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SUPERIOR. 

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R. OGDEN DOREMUS, M. D., LL. D., 

Prof. Chemistry and Toxicology in “ Bellevue Hospital Medical College ; ” 
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COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS 


A SERIES OF FAMILIAR LESSONS FOR 
YOUNG HOUSEKEEPERS 


BY 

MARION HARLAND 

Author of “ Common Sense in the Household,” “ The Dinner 

Year Book,” “The Cottage Kitchen,” etc. 

r 


BOSTON 

D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY 


FRANKLIN STREET 


COPYRIGHT BY 


0. LOTHROP & CO. 
1884. 


Library of Congress 



2013 456846 










CONTENTS. 


I. 

Home-made Yeast and the first Loaf 


2. 

Bread Sponge and Breakfast Breads 


3 - 

Breakfast Breads 



4 - 

Other Breakfast Breads . 



5 - 

Eggs. 



6. 

Broiled Meats .... 



7 - 

Fried Meats .... 



8. 

What to do with Left-overs . 



9 * 

Other Dinner Dishes 



JO. 

Meats. 



11. 

Vegetables. 

* •. 


12. 

Desserts. 



J 3 * 

Cake-making .... 

• 

• 


14. Jellies, Creams, and other fancy Dishes 
for Tea and Luncheon, or Supper- 
Parties.. 


7 

16 

28 

37 

42 

54 

60 

69 

81 

94 

107 

118 

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x 43 


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$ 













COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


1 


HOME-MADE YEAST AND THE FIRST LOAF. 



HE question is often asked, “What is 


JL the most important branch of culinary- 
knowledge ? What the chief requisite in sup¬ 
plying the table well and healthfully ? ” 

The experienced housewife cannot hesitate 
as to the reply. 

Beyond doubt, the ability to make good 
bread. No one need rise hungry from a table 
on which is plenty of light, sweet bread, white 
or brown, and good butter. For the latter 
item many of us are dependent upon market 
and grocery. It is hardly just to hold the 
cook responsible for imperfections in this re¬ 
gard when she has bought the best articles 


7 


8 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


these supply. She is culpable if she fails to 
see that her board furnishes three times a 
day a bountiful allowance of what I hope 
none of my friends in council will ever call 
“healthy bread.” The eater may be made or 
kept healthy by the consumption of nutritious, 
wholesome, healthful or healthsome food; but 
the most careful philologists do not speak of 
edibles as subject to such diseases as may 
afflict living creatures. 

While it is always wise to use none except 
the best flour in bread-making, it is true that 
skilful management of an inferior brand will 
often produce better loaves and biscuits than 
careless treatment of fine family flour. I say 
this that none may be discouraged. So far as 
my observation and experience extend, nothing 
can remedy the disadvantage of indifferent 
yeast. 

Let me earnestly advise, therefore, as the 
foundation of successful baking, the manufac¬ 
ture of 


HOME-MADE YEAST. 


9 


HOME-MADE YEAST. 

Four large mealy potatoes, peeled. 

Two quarts of cold water. 

One teacupful of loose, dry hops, or , half 

* 

a cake of the pressed hops put up by 
the Shakers and sold by druggists. 

Two tablespoonfuls of white sugar. 

Four tablespoonfuls of flour. 

Half a cupful lively yeast, or a yeast-cake 
dissolved in a little warm water. 

Put water, potatoes, and the hops tied up 
in a bit of coarse muslin, over the fire in a 
clean pot or kettle. Boil until the potatoes 
break apart when a fork is stuck into them. 
Unless they are very old or very new, this 
should be half an hour after the boiling be¬ 
gins. Take out the potatoes, leaving water 
and hops on the range where they will boil 
slowly. Mash the potatoes smooth in a wooden 
tray or large crockery bowl, with a wooden 
spoon, and work in the sugar. When these 


10 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


are well-mixed wet the paste with three table¬ 
spoonfuls of the boiling hop-tea, then stir in 
a tablespoonful of flour. Do this four times, 
beating and stirring to get rid of lumps. 
When the flour is all in, add, a little at a 
time, the rest of the hop-tea, squeezing the 
bag hard to get every drop. Throw the boiled 
hops away, and wash the cloth or bag well 
before putting it aside for the next yeast-making. 

Strain the thick, grayish liquid through a 
colander into a bowl and let it get almost 
but not quite cold before you stir in the 
half cupful of made yeast that is to “raise” 
it. Set aside out of the dust and wind, put 
a sieve or throw a bit of mosquito netting 
over it, and leave it to work. It is a good 
plan to set the bowl in a large pan or dish 
to catch what may run over the sides. When 
the yeast ceases to sing or hiss, and the 
bubbles no longer rise and break on the 
surface, the fermentation is complete. Four 
or five hours in July, seven in January, 


THE FIRST LOAF. 


11 


usually bring this to pass. Pour the yeast 
into glass fruit-jars with close covers, or stone- 
jars fitted with corks, or common bottles, 
tying the corks down with twine. Keep in a 
cool, dark place, and do not open except to 
draw off the quantity needed for a baking. 
In the refrigerator it will keep good for a 
month. Shake up the bottle before pouring 
out what you want into a cup. 

The creamy, foamy product thus obtained 
is quite another thing from the dark, bitter 
stuff pedled from one kitchen door to another 
as brewer's or baker’s yeast, unfit for use 
unless strained, and then too frequently “ un¬ 
profitable ” because “stale” and “flat.” 

THE FIRST LOAF, 

One quart and a cupful of sifted flour (a 
half pint cup) 

One even teaspoonful dry salt. 

* 

Two full cups of blood-warm water. 

Five tablespoonfuls of yeast (good ones). 


12 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Sift the flour and salt together into a 
wooden or stoneware bowl. Make a hole in 
the middle and pour in the yeast, then a 
cupful of the water. With clean hands begin 
to work down the flour into the liquid, and 
as it stiffens add the rest of the water. When 
the dough is all wet dust your fingers with 

dry flour, and rub off the paste into the bowl. 
Scrape the sides of this, dust your fingers 

again, and make all the dough into a lump 

or ball. Dredge your pastry or bread-board 
well with flour, put the dough upon it and 
sift flour lightly over it. Ask your mother 

or some experienced person whether or not it 
is of the right consistency. There is so much 
difference in various brands of flour that only 
practice can teach one when the dough is 
just right. Do not get it too stiff. Add flour 
very cautiously even should it stick to your 
fingers. Knead the bread for fifteen minutes — 
not so fast as to tire yourself out of breath, 
but steadily and hard, working it away from 


THE FIRST LOAF. 


13 


you all the time, turning the ball over and 
around so as to reach every part of the mass. 
It should leave the board without stickiness 
at the end of this time, be smooth, firm, and 
elastic. Strike it hard with a tight fist, and 
if the dent thus made fills up at once, you 
have kneaded it sufficiently. 

Sprinkle your bread-bowl with flour, put the 
dough in the bottom, sift flour lightly over 
the top, cover with a clean thick cloth and 
set, in cold weather, in a moderately warm 
place, in summer, out of the draught, but 
away from the fire and sun. It should be 
light in four hours in warm weather, in six 
in winter. If you wish to have it for break¬ 
fast, set at bedtime, and get up early to work 
it over for the second rising. 

This must not be done until the dough has 
swollen immensely, and cracked over the top 
like “ crazed ” china. Flour the board and 
knead as before, now for ten minutes. Grease 
two “ brick ” or round bread-pans well with 


14 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


sweet lard or butter, make out the dough in 
two oblong or round loaves, and pat these 
down in the pans to fit the corners. Prick 
the tops with a sharp fork, cover with a 
clean cloth, and let them stand for an hour 
before putting them into the oven. 

The oven must be steady, but not too hot. 
You should be able to hold your bare arm in 
it while you count twenty regularly. Should 
the bread rise very fast at first, lay stout 
paper over the top to prevent it from browning 
before the heart is done. Do not allow the 
stove or range to be filled with fresh coal 
or wood while your bread is in the oven, or 
it will be “ slack-baked. ” Should you need to 
increase the heat, put in a stick or two of 
wood to get up a brisk blaze. Do not open 
the oven for ten or twelve minutes after the 
bread goes in, and very seldom afterward. A 
peep should suffice to see how it is getting 
on. If the loaf rises higher at the back or at 
one side than in front or on the other side, 


THE FIRST LOAF. 


15 


turn the tin quickly, and do not jar it, or it 
will “fall” into heavy streaks. If the oven is 
right, your loaves should be done in about 
thirty-five minutes. 

Set the loaves up on the edge of one end, 
leaning against the wall or an upright board, 
that the air may dry the bottom, throw a 
dry cloth over them and leave them to cool. 
When quite cold wrap in a clean thick cloth 
and keep in a tin box or stone crock. 

In this, as in other first attempts, let me 
warn you against being disheartened by failure, 
partial or total. It would be far more strange 
were you to accomplish perfection in one, or 
in half a dozen lessons, than if your early 
efforts should be only moderately successful. 

See that your yeast is lively and not sour, 
the flour good and dry, then follow directions 
implicitly, and I think I can engage that the 
result will not mortify you. 


2 


BEEAD SPONGE AND BEEAKFAST BEEADS. 


TT) READ raised with what is known to bak- 
ers as a “ sponge,’’ requires more time 
and a trifle more work than the simpler form 
for which I have just already given directions. 
But it keeps fresh longer, is softer and more 
nutritious, and a second-rate brand of flour 
thus treated produces a better loaf than when 
mixed up with yeast and water only. Sponge¬ 
making is, therefore, an important if not an 
essential accomplishment in a cook, be she 
novice or veteran. 

Bread Sponge. 

Three potatoes of fair size, peeled and boiled 
mealy. 

Five tablespoonfuls of yeast. 

16 


BREAD SPONGE AND BREAKFAST BREADS. 17 


One tablespoonful of white sugar. 

One tablespoonful of butter. 

Three cups of lukewarm water in which 
the potatoes were boiled— strained 
through a coarse cloth. 

One heaping cup of sifted flour. 

Put the potatoes into a large bowl or tray 
and mash them to powder with a potato beetle, 
or a wooden spoon. While still hot, mix in 
the sugar and butter, beating all to a lump- 
less cream. 

Add a few spoonfuls at a time, the po¬ 
tato-water alternately with the flour by the 
handful, beating the batter smooth as you go on 
until all of the liquid and flour has gone in. 
Beat hard one minute before pouring in the 
yeast. In hot weather, it is well to stir into 
the yeast a bit of soda no larger than a grain 
of corn already wet up in a teaspoonful of 
boiling water. 

Now whip up the batter with a wooden 


18 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


spoon for another minute, and the sponge is 
made. 

Throw a cloth over the bowl and set by for 
five or six hours to rise. If you intend to 
bake in the forenoon, make the sponge at 
bedtime. If in the afternoon, early in the 
morning. 

When the sponge is light sift a quart and 

a cup of flour into a bowl or tray with two 

teaspoonfuls of salt. Into a hollow, like a crater 
in the middle of the flour, empty your sponge- 
bowl, and work the flour down into it. Wash 
out the bowl with a little lukewarm water 

and add this to the dough. If it should prove 
too soft, work in, cautiously, a little more 
flour. If too stiff, warm water, a spoonful at 
a time until you can handle the paste easily. 
The danger is in getting it too stiff. 

Now, knead and set for risings first and 

second, as you have already been instructed. 
This sponge will be found especially useful in 
making 


GRAHAM BREAD. 


19 


Graham Bread. 

One quart of Graham flour, one cup of 
white flour. 

One half cup of Indian meal. 

One half cup of molasses. 

Two teaspoonfuls of salt. 

Soda, the size of a pea. 

Half the quantity of sponge given in pre¬ 
ceding receipt. 

Warm water for rinsing bowl — about half 
a cup. 

Put the brown or Graham flour unsifted into 
the bread-bowl. Sift into it white flour, meal 
and salt, and stir up well while dry. Into the 
“crater” dug out in the middle, pour the 
sponge, warm water, the molasses, and soda 
dissolved in hot water. Knead as you would 
white bread, and set aside for the rising. It 
will not swell so fast as the white, so give 
yourself more time for making it. 

When light, knead well and long; make 


20 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


into two loaves, then put into well-greased 
pans and leave for an hour, or until it be¬ 
comes more than twice the original size of the 
dough. 

Take care that it does not burn in baking. 
The molasses renders it liable to scorching. 
The oven must be steady, but not so hot as 
for white bread, nor will the Graham bread be 
done quite so soon as that made of bolted flour. 
Turn the pans once while baking, moving them 
as gently as possible. If rudely shaken or 
jarred, there will be heavy streaks in the 
loaves. 

Graham bread is wholesome and sweet, and 
ought to be eaten frequently in every family, 
particularly by young people whose bones and 
teeth are in forming. 

The phosphates which the process of “bolt¬ 
ing” removes to a large extent from white flour, 
go directly to the manufacture of bone, and 
these also tend to nourish and strengthen the 
brain. 


TEA ROLLS. 


21 


Tea-Rolls. 

After mixing your bread in the morning 
either with sponge or with yeast, divide the 
kneaded dough into two portions. Mould one 
into a round ball, and set aside for a loaf as 
already directed. Make a hole in the middle 
of the other batch and pour into it a table¬ 
spoonful of butter, just melted, but not hot. 
Close the dough over it, dust your hands and 
kneading-board with flour and work in the 
shortening until the dough is elastic and 
ceases to be sticky. Put it into a floured bowl, 
cover with a cloth and set away out of draught 
and undue heat, for three hours. Knead it 
again, then, and wait upon its rising for another 
three hours. The dough should be as soft 
as can be handled. 

When it is light for the second time flour 
your board, rubbing in the flour and blowing 
lightly away what does not adhere to the sur¬ 
face. Toss the lump dough upon it and knead 


22 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


thoroughly for five minutes. Flour a rolling- 
pin and roll the dough into a sheet not more 
than half an inch thick. Cut this into round 
cakes with a biscuit-cutter or a sharp-edged 
tumbler and fold, not quite in the middle, in 
the form of turnovers, pinching the corners 
of the fold pretty hard to hinder the flap of 
dough from flying up as the rising proceeds. 
Rub the bottom and sides of a baking-pan 
with sweet lard or butter. Do this with a 
bit of clean soft rag or tissue-paper, visiting 
every corner of the pan, but not leaving thick 
layers and streaks of grease after it. Arrange 
the rolls in regular rows in the pan about a 
quarter of an inch apart. 

Cover with a cloth and set nearer the fire 

than you dared trust the dough, and let them 

rise for an hour. Peep under the cloth two 

or three times to see whether they rise evenly, 

% 

and turn the pan around once that all may 
be equally exposed to the heat. 

When the time is up and the rolls are puffy 


GRAHAM ROLLS —BREAKFAST BISCUIT. 23 


and promising, set them in a pretty quick 
oven and bake half an hour, turning the pan 
once in this time, and covering with clean — 
never printed — paper, should they brown too 
fast. Break the rolls apart from one another 
and eat warm. They are also good cold, and 
if the directions be followed implicitly, very 
good always. 

Graham Eolls 

Are made by treating the dough mixed for 
Graham bread as above and following the fore¬ 
going receipt in every section, but allowing 
more time for rising and baking. They are 
even better when cold than hot. 

Breakfast Biscuit. 

Two cups of fresh milk slightly warmed. 

One quart and a cup of flour sifted. 

Five tablespoonfuls of yeast. 

One even tablespoonful of white sugar. 

One even teaspoonful of salt. 


24 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Bit of soda as large as a pea, dissolved 
in hot water. 

One tablespoonful of butter, just melted, 
not hot. 

Yolk of one egg beaten light. 

Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a bow), 
hollow the heap in the centre and pour in 
the milk, working down the flour into the 
liquid with a spoon or your hands until it is 
thoroughly melted. Into a second hollow pour 
the yeast and knead thoroughly for fifteen min¬ 
utes. Wrap bowl and biscuit in a thick cloth 
and set to rise where it will neither become 
chilled nor sour over night. (Study the tem¬ 
perature in different parts of the kitchen and 
kitchen closets to the end of finding the best 
places for raising dough and sponge. 

Do all this at bedtime. Early in the morn¬ 
ing turn out the dough upon a floured board, 
work it for a minute into manageable shape; 
drill several finger-holes in it and fill them 


BREAKFAST BISCUIT. 


25 


with the melted butter, the dissolved soda and the 
beaten yolk of egg. Pinch the dough hard to stop 
the mouths of these cavities, and knead for ten 
minutes, carefully at first, lest the liquids should 
be wasted, and more boldly when they are 
absorbed by the paste. Roll out into a sheet 
half an inch thick with a floured rolling-pin; 
cut into round cakes, set these closely to¬ 
gether in a well-greased pan; prick each with 
a fork and let them rise near the fire for half 
an hour, covered with a light cloth. 

Bake from twenty to twenty-five minutes in 
a quick oven, turning the pan around once, 
quickly and lightly. Break apart from one an¬ 
other and pile on a plate, throwing a clean 
doily or a small napkin over them. Break 
open at table. Hot rolls and muffins should 
never be cut. 

One word with regard to getting up early 
in order to give dough a chance for the second 
rising. It is not a wholesome practice for any 
woman — least of all a young girl to be out 


26 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


of bed two hours before she eats her break¬ 
fast. Studying upon an empty stomach pro¬ 
vokes dyspepsia and injures the eyes. Active 
exercise in like circumstances tempts debility 
and disease. Yet our bread and rolls must be 
looked after at the proper time. Have your¬ 
self called on biscuit mornings an hour earlier 
than usual. Rise, wash face and hands, rinse 
the mouth out and brush back the hair. Put 
on stockings and slippers, such underclothing 
as may be needed to prevent cold, a wrapper 
and the kitchen apron. Cover your hair en¬ 
tirely with a handkerchief or sweeping cap. 
Before beginning operations down-stairs eat a 
half-slice of dry bread or a biscuit. You will 
not relish it, but take it all the same to ap¬ 
pease the empty, discontented stomach. Hav¬ 
ing made out your rolls and tucked them up 
snugly for the final rise, return to your cham¬ 
ber for a comfortable bath and toilet. When 
habited for the day in all except the outer 
gown, collar, etc., slip on the wrapper again 


BREAKFAST BISCUITS. 


27 


and run down to put the biscuits in the oven. 
Unless it is too hot, they will get no harm 
while you finish dressing in ten minutes, just 
in season to turn the pan. 

From the beginning of your apprenticeship 
in housewifery, learn how to “ dovetail ” your 
duties neatly into one another. A wise accom¬ 
modation of parts and angles, and compact¬ 
ness in the adjustment of “ must-be-dones ” 
are better than mere personal strength in the 
accomplishment of such tasks as fall to women 
to perform. Master these, and do not let 
them master you. Weave the little duties in 
and under and among what seem to be the 
greater. While your bread is taking a three 
hours’ rise, you are free in body and mind 
for other things. The grand secret of keeping 
house well and without worry, lies in the art 
of packing and. fitting different kinds of work, 
and in picking up the minutes. Other things 
besides rising dough get on quite as well with¬ 
out your standing by to watch them. 


3 


BREAKFAST BREADS. 

T TNDER this head may be classed muffins, 
griddle-cakes, crumpets, corn bread, Sally 
Lunn, quick biscuits, and a dozen other varie¬ 
ties of warm bread suitable for breakfast and 
tea. They furnish a very pleasant variety in 

the daily bill of fare, and are extremely pop¬ 
ular. 

Nor are they unwholesome if properly made 
and cooked, and eaten by well people. To 
weak and impaired digestive organs all kinds 
of warm bread are hurtful. 

English. Muffins, 

One quart of sifted flour. 

Two cups of lukewarm water. 

Half a cup of yeast. 

28 


BREAKFAST BREADS. 


29 


One tablespoonful of butter melted, but 
not hot. One teaspoonful of salt sifted 
with the flour. 

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, make 
a hole in the middle and pour in yeast and 
warm water. Stir down the flour gradually 
into the liquid, and when all is in, beat hard 
with a wooden spoon, Should the mixture be 
too stiff for this, add a little more water. 
It should be about half as thick as bread-dough. 
Beat for five minutes and set aside to rise, 
with a cloth thrown over the bowl, in a 
moderately warm corner. 

Early in the morning stir the melted butter 
into the dough, beat hard for two minutes, 
and leave for half an hour in the covered 
bowl in a warm place — such as on a stool 
near the fire—turning it several times. 

Grease muffin-rings well with sweet lard, 
arrange them upon a greased griddle set over 
the fire and already warmed (not really hot), 


30 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


fill about half-way to the top with batter, and 
bake quickly. When the dough fills the rings 
and begins to look firm on the top, slip a 
knife under one and peep at the under side. 
If it is delicately browned, turn the rings 
over with a spatula or cake-turner. This must 
be done quickly and dexterously, so as not to 
spill the batter. 

When quite done, wrap a thick cloth about 
your fingers, take up the muffin-rings one by 
one; pass a sharp knife around the inside of 
each, to loosen the muffin, and shake it out 
upon a hot plate. Pile them up neatly and 
cover with a clean napkin. These muffins 
must be broken, not cut open, and buttered 
while hot. 

The English split, toast and butter cold 
muffins. 

Orumpets. 

Two cups of lukewarm milk. 

Two thirds of a cup of lukewarm water. 

One quart of sifted flour. 


BREAKFAST BREADS. 


31 


One tablespoonful of white sugar. 

Half a teaspoonful of salt. 

Two tablespoonfuls of melted butter. 

Half a cupful of yeast. 

Soda the size of a pea, dissolved in a 
teaspoonful of boiling water. 

Mix milk, yeast, water, sugar and salted 
flour as directed in former receipt. Beat hard, 
and set to rise over night. In the morning 
work in the butter and soda, beat up for one 
whole minute until the mixture is light through¬ 
out, and half-fill greased patty-pans with it. 
Set these in a baking-pan, cover with a cloth, 
and let them stand in a warm place fifteen 
minutes before putting them into a steady 
oven. They'should be done in from twelve to 
fifteen minutes if the oven is right. If they 
brown too fast, cover them with paper. 

Quick Muffins. 

One quart of sifted flour. 



32 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


One tablespoonful of salt. 

Three cups lukewarm milk. 

T wo eggs. 

One tablespoonful of melted butter. 

Two tcaspoonfuls of baking powder. 

Sift flour, baking-powder and salt twice 
through the sieve, to make sure these are 
well mixed together. Beat the eggs very light. 
(By all means have a Dover Egg-Beater for 
this purpose. It whips eggs to a lovely froth 
with less labor and in less time than any 
other yet invented.) 

Stir melted butter, eggs and milk together 
in a large bowl, and to this add the flour, a 
cupful at a time, stirring very quickly and 
lightly down toward the middle of the bowl. 
Beat hard up one minute at the last, to 
break flour-lumps; half-fill greased patty-pans 
with the batter, and then bake in a quick 
oven. 

Turn out and eat while puffy and hot. 


BREAKFAST BREADS. 


33 


Sally Lunn. (The “Genuine Article.”) 

One quart of sifted flour. 

One cup of warm milk. 

One of warm water. 

Four large tablespoonfuls of yeast. 

Two tablespoonfuls of melted butter. 

Four eggs. 

One tablespoonful of salt sifted with the 
flour. 

Soda the size of a pea, dissolved in a 
teaspoonful of boiling water. 

Beat the eggs steadily four minutes. Have 
ready in a bowl the warmed milk, water, 
melted butter and soda. Into this stir the 
salted flour, cupful by cupful, until all is in. 
Beat smooth from lumps and add the yeast. 
The eggs should now be whipped three minutes 
with the “ Dover,” in a cool bowl. They will 
not froth in a hot or warm one. When light, 
beat well into the batter, and then beat up 
hard for a full minute. A wooden spoon is 





34 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


best for this purpose. Butter a tin cake-mould 
well in every part, and put in the batter. If 
there is more than enough to half-fill the 
mould have two prepared, that the contents 
may not overflow in rising. 

Set in a moderately warm place for six 
hours at least, and then bake in the mould 
for three quarters of an hour if there is but 
one loaf, half an hour if there are two. ' 

The oven must be steady and not very hot 
at first. Turn the mould twice in this time 
keeping the oven door open as short a time 
as possible. When you think the loaf is done, 
thrust a clean straw down into the thickest 
part. 

If it comes up as clean as when it went 
in, take out the bread. Slip a knife around 
the edge to loosen it, and turn out upside down 
on a warm plate. 

Cut in triangular slices at table, holding the 
knife upright to avoid crushing and making 
it heavy. 



BREAKFAST BREADS. 


35 


Quick Biscuits. 

One quart of sifted flour. 

Two heaping tablespoonfuls of sweet, firm 
lard. 

Two cups of new milk (warm from the 
cow if you can get it.) 

Two tablespoonfuls of baking powder. 

One teaspoonful of salt. 

Sift salt, flour, and baking-powder twice 
into a bowl or tray. With a clean sharp 
chopping-knife work the lard into this, turning 
and chopping until no lumps are left. Into a 
hollow in the middle pour the milk, working 
the flour downward until you have a soft, wet 
mass, using the chopper for this purpose. 
Flour your pastry-board and your hands, make 
the dough into a ball, handling it as little as 
possible, and lay on the board. Roll out with 
a floured rolling-pin into a sheet half an inch 
in thickness, and with very few strokes . Cut 



36 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


into round cakes, sift flour lightly over the 
bottom of a baking-pan, and set your biscuits 
— just not touching one another—in even 
rows within it. 

Bake about twelve minutes in a quick oven. 
The dough should have a rough appearance 
before it is baked, like what is known as 
“pebbled morocco.” Too much handling will 
make it sleek without and tough within. 

You can make excellent quick biscuits by 
the above receipt, by substituting Hecker’s Pre¬ 
pared Flour for the barreled family flour, and 
omitting the baking-powder. You will, however, 
probably be obliged to add a little more milk, 
as prepared flour “ thickens up ” rather more 
than other brands. 


4 


OTHER BREAKFAST BREADS. 

Griddle Oakes. 

I N making these, let quickness be the first, 

second and third rules. Beat briskly and 

thoroughly; mix just as you are ready to 

send the cakes to the table (except when 

yeast is used), bake, turn, and serve promptly. 

Have all your materials on the table, measured 

and ready to your hand. The griddle must 

be perfectly clean and wiped off with a dry 

cloth just before you lay it on the stove. 

Heat it gradually at one side of the stove 

or range, and when it is warm grease with 

a bit of fat salt pork stuck firmly on a fork. 

The fat should be hissing hot, but not 

37 





38 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


scorching, when the batter is poured on. 
Before putting the cakes on to fry, slip the 
griddle to the hottest part of the stove. 
Drop the batter in great, even spoonfuls, and 
be careful not to spill or spatter it. 

M. H. Phillips and Co., of Troy, N. Y., 
manufacture a griddle with three shallow cups 
sunken in an iron plate which moves on a 
hinge. When the cakes are done on the 
lower side the turn of a handle reverses the 
plate upon a heated surface. This makes the 
cakes of equal size and thickness and saves 
the trouble of watching, spatula in hand, to 
turn each one. It greatly simplifies the 
process of baking cakes, and lessens the 
heating labor of attending to them. 

Be sure that each cake is done before you 
turn it. A twice-turned “ griddle” is spoiled. 

Sour-milk Oakes. 

One quart of “loppered,” or of buttermilk. 

Three cups of sifted flour. 


OTHER BREAKFAST BREADS. 


39 


One cup of Indian meal. 

One “rounded” teaspoonful of soda free 
from lumps. 

One teaspoonful of salt. 

Two tablespoonfuls of molasses. 

Sift flour, salt and meal into a bowl. In 
another mix the milk, molasses and soda. 
Stir these last to a foam, and pour into the 
hollow in the middle of the flour. Work 
down the flour into the liquid with a wooden 
spoon until you have a batter, and beat hard 
with upward strokes, two minutes. Bake at 
once. These are cheap, easy and good cakes. 

Hominy Oakes. 

• 

Two cups of fine hominy boiled and cold. 
(Take the tough skin from the top 
before mixing in the batter.) 

One heaping cup of sifted flour. 

One quart of milk. 

Three eggs beaten very light. 


40 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


One tablespoonful of molasses. 

One teaspoonful of salt. 

Rub the hominy with the back of a wooden 
spoon until all the lumps are broken up. Wet 
it little by little with the milk and molasses, 
working it smooth as you go on. Sift flour 
and salt together, and put in next. Beat for 
a whole minute before adding the whipped 
eggs, and another minute very hard, before 
baking. Stir up well from the bottom before 
putting each fresh batch of cakes on the 
griddle. 

These cakes if properly made, are tender, 
wholesome and delightful. 

Graham Oakes. 

Two cups of Graham flour. 

One of sifted white. 

One heaping tablespoonful of Indian meal. 

Three cups of buttermilk, or loppered milk. 

One rounded teaspoonful of soda. 


OTHER BREAKFAST BREADS. 


41 


Two tablespoonfuls of molasses. 

One teaspoonful of salt sifted with the 
flour. 

Two eggs whipped very light. 

One tablespoonful melted butter. 

* 

Put Graham and salted white flour into a 
bowl with the Indian meal. Stir up in another 
milk, molasses, soda and melted butter, and 
while foaming pour into the hollowed flour. 
Work to a good batter and beat in the eggs 
already whipped to a froth. 

Beat one minute and bake at once. 

This is a good standard breakfast hot bread. 


5 

EGGS. 

M ANY people do not know a well-boiled 
egg by sight or taste, yet a fresh egg, 
boiled to a nicety, is one of the simplest, most 
nutritious of breakfast dishes. 

Boiled Eggs. 

Select the cleanest eggs, wash them well, and 

lay them in lukewarm water for five minutes. 

Have ready on the fire a saucepan of water 

on a fast boil, and in quantity sufficient to 

cover the eggs entirely. Into this put one 

egg at a time with a spoon, depositing each 

gently on the bottom, and quickly. 

Four minutes boils an egg thoroughly, if one 

42 


EGGS. 


43 • 


likes the white set and the yolk heated to the 
centre. Five minutes makes the white firm and 
sets the yolk. Ten minutes boils both hard. 

Take up the eggs with a split spoon or 
wire whisk. If you have no regular egg dish, 
lay a heated napkin in a deep dish or bowl 
(also warmed), put in the eggs as in a nest, 
cover up with the corners of the napkin, and 
send directly to the table. They harden in the 
shells if left long without being broken. 

The best way to manage a boiled egg at 
the table is the English way of setting it 
upright in the small end of the egg-cup, 
making a hole in the top large enough to 
admit the egg-spoon, and eating it from the 
shell, seasoning as you go on. Heat and taste 
are undoubtedly better preserved by this method 
than by any other. Those who cannot afford 
gold-washed spoons, can procure pretty ivory 
ones at a trifling cost, or small teaspoons will 
serve the purpose. 

Spoons smeared with eggs should be laid to 


44 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


soak in cold water directly you have finished 
using them. 

Custard Eggs. 

Put the washed eggs in a saucepan of cold 
water and let them just come to a boil, then 
take them up. 

Or, lay them in a hot tin pail, cover them 
with boiling water, put the top on the pail 
and leave them on the kitchen table for five 
minutes. Drain off the water, pour on more 
boiling hot and replace the top. Wrap a 
hot towel about the pail, and leave it four 
minutes before dishing the eggs. They will 
be like a soft custard throughout, and more 
digestible than if cooked in any other way. 

Poached, or Dropped Eggs. 

Into a clean frying-pan, pour plenty of boil¬ 
ing water, and a teaspoonful of salt. Let it 
boil steadily, not violently. Wipe a cup dry, 
break an egg into it, and pour, very cau- 


EGGS. 


45 


tiously and quickly, on the surface of the 

water. Avoid spreading or breaking it. It will 
sink to the bottom for an instant, but if the 

water is boiling hot, will rise soon and be 
cooked in about three and a half minutes. 
Do not put more than three into the pan at 
one time, or they will run into one another. 

Take them up with a perforated skimmer 
and lay on a hot, flat dish in which a tea¬ 
spoonful of butter has been melted. If the 

whites have ragged edges, trim neatly with a 
sharp knife. When all are done, pepper and 
salt lightly, put a bit of butter on each egg 
and send up very hot. 

Eggs on Toast. 

Cut out with a sharp-edged tumbler or a 
cake cutter as many round slices of stale 
bread as there are eggs to be cooked. Toast 
these nicely, butter thinly; cover the bottom 
of a heated dish with them, and pour on each 
a tablespoonful of boiling water. Set in the 


4(5 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


plate-warmer or an open oven while you poach 
eggs as directed in the last receipt. 

Lay each when done on a round of toast, 
pepper, salt and butter, and serve. 

Eggs on Savory Toast. 

Toast rounds of stale bread as directed in 
preceding receipt, but instead of moistening 
them with hot water, pour upon them, as they 
lie in the dish, two tablespoonfuls of boiling 
gravy to each slice. A half-cupful of gravy 
left over from yesterday’s roast or stew skimmed 
free of fat, heated, thinned with a very little 
boiling water, well-seasoned, then strained and 
boiled up quickly, makes this a tempting dish. 

Poach as many eggs as you have rounds 

of toast, and lay on these, with pepper, salt 

and bits of butter. 

* * 

Scrambled or Stirred Eggs. 

Nine eggs. 

One tablespoonful of butter. 


EGGS. 


47 


Half a teaspoonful of salt. 

A little pepper. 

Half a teaspoonful of chopped parsley very 
fine. 

Break the eggs altogether in a bowl. Put 
the butter in a clean frying-pan and set it on 
the range. As it melts, add pepper, salt and 
parsley. When it hisses, pour in the eggs, 
and begin at once to stir them, scraping the 
bottom of the pan from the sides toward the 
centre, until you have a soft, moist mass just 
firm enough not to run over the bottom of 
the heated dish on which you turn it out. 
Make it into a neat mound. Some people 
prefer it without the parsley. 

In serving every things be careful that the 
rims of the dishes are perfectly clean. The 
effect of the most delicious viand is spoiled 
by drops or smears of food on the vessel 
containing it. 

If you heap your scrambled eggs on a plat- 


48 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


ter and lay parsley-sprigs around, making a 
green fringe or border for the yellow hillock, 
you have an elegant dish. Study to make plain 
things pretty when you can. 

Bacon and Eggs. 

Fry as many slices of ham, or what is 
known as breakfast-bacon, as there are eggs 

to be cooked. Have the clean frying-pan warm, 

» 

but not hot, when the meat goes in. Turn 
the slices as they brown. When done, take 
the pan over to the sink or table, remove the 
meat to a hot dish and set where it will 
keep warm. 

Strain the grease left in the pan through a 
bit of tarlatan or coarse muslin into a cup. 
Wipe the frying-pan clean, pour in the strained 
fat and return to the fire. If there is not 
enough to cover the bottom a quarter of an 
inch deep, add a tablespoonful of butter. 
Break the eggs one at a time in a cup, and 
when the fat hisses put them in carefully. 


EGGS. 


49 


Few people like “ turned ” fried eggs. Slip 
a cake-turner or spatula under each as it cooks 
to keep it from sticking. They should be 
done in about three minutes. Do not put in 
more at once than can swim in the fat with¬ 
out interfering with one another. 

Take up as fast as they cook, trim off ragged 
and rusty edges and lay on a hot platter. 
Drain each to get rid of the fat, as you take 
it out of the pan. 

When all are dished, lay the ham or bacon 
neatly about the eggs like a garnish. Pepper 
all lightly. Ham for this purpose should be 
cut in small narrow slices. 

Drop sprays of parsley on the rim of the 
dish. 

Baked Eggs. 

Put a tablespoonful of butter in a pie-plate, 
and set in the oven until it melts and begins 
to smoke. Take it to the table and break 
six eggs one by one into a cup, pouring each 
in turn into the melted butter carefully. 


50 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Sprinkle with pepper and salt, put a tiny bit 
of butter on each and set in the oven to 
bake until the eggs are “ set ” — that is, when the 
whites are firm and the yolks skimmed over, 
but not hard. Four minutes in a quick oven 
should do this. Send to table at once. 

If you have a few spoonfuls of nice chicken 
gravy, you can strain and use it instead of 
butter. 

Scalloped Eggs. 

Six eggs. 

Half a cupful of nice gravy skimmed and 
strained. Chicken, turkey, game and 
veal gravy are especially good for this 
purpose. Clear soup may also be used. 

Half a cupful of pounded cracker or fine 
dry bread-crumbs. 

Pepper and salt. 

Pour the gravy into a pie-plate and let it 
get warm before putting in the eggs as in 
last receipt. Pepper, salt and strew cracker 


EGGS. 


51 


crumbs evenly over them. Bake five minutes. 
Serve in the pie-plate. 

Dropped Eggs with White Sauce. 

Drop or poach the eggs; put them on a 
hot, flat dish and pour over them this sauce 
boiling hot. 

In a saucepan put half a cupful of boiling 
water. 

Two or three large spoonfuls of nice strained 
gravy. 

A little pepper. 

A quarter teaspoonful of salt. 

When this boils stir in a heaping teaspoon¬ 
ful of flour wet up smoothly with a little 
cold water to keep it from lumping. Stir and 
and boil one minute and add a tablespoonful 
of butter. Stir steadily two minutes longer, 
add, if you like, a little minced parsley, and 
pour the sauce which should be like thick 
cream, over the dished eggs. 


52 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Omelette. 

Six eggs. 

Four teaspoonfuls of cream. 

Half a teaspoonful salt. 

A little pepper. 

Two tablespoonfuls of butter. 

Whip whites and yolks together for four 
minutes in a bowl with the “Dover” egg 
beater. They should be thick and smooth 
before you beat in cream, salt and pepper. 
Melt the butter in a clean frying-pan, set on 
one side of the stove where it will keep warm 
but not scorch. Pour the beaten mixture into 
it and remove to a place where the fire is 
hotter. As it “sets,” slip a broad knife care¬ 
fully around the edges and under it, that the 
butter may find its way freely to all parts of 
the pan. 

When the middle is just set, pass a cake- 
turner carefully under one half of the ome¬ 
lette and fold it over the other. Lay a hot 


EGGS. 


53 


platter upside down above the doubled mass 
and holding frying-pan and dish firmly, turn 
the latter quickly over, reversing the positions 
of the two, and depositing the omelette in 
the dish. 

Do not be mortified should you break your 
trial omelette. Join the bits neatly; lay sprays 
of parsley over the cracks and try another 
soon. Be sure it is loosened from the pan 
before you try to turn it out; hold pan and dish 
fast in place; do not be nervous or flurried, 
and you will soon catch the knack of dishing 
the omelette dexterously and handsomely. 

I have given you ten receipts for cooking 
eggs. It would be easy to furnish as many 
more without exhausting the list of ways of 
preparing this invaluable article of food for 
our tables. I have selected the methods that 
are at once easy and excellent, and adapted 
to the ability of a class of beginners. 



6 




BEOILED MEATS. 

I T has been said that the frying-pan has 
ruined more American digestions than all 
the other hurtful agencies combined. It is 
certainly true that while the process of frying 
properly performed upon certain substances 
does not of necessity, make them unwhole¬ 
some— the useful utensil does play alto¬ 
gether too important a part in our National 
cookery. Broiled meats are more wholesome, 
more palatable, and far more elegant. Certain 
things should never be fried. That beefsteak 
should never make the acquaintance of the 
frying-pan is a rule without an exception. 

The best gridirons for private families are the 

54 



BROILED MEATS. 


55 


light, double “broilers,” made of tinned wire 
and linked together at the back with loops 
of the same material. They are easily hand¬ 
led, turned and cleansed, and when not in 
use may be hung on the wall out of the way. 
It is well to have two sizes, one for large 
steaks, the smaller for birds, oysters, and when 
there is occasion to broil a single chop or 
chicken-leg for an invalid. 

Beefsteak. 

Never wash a steak unless it has fallen in 
the dirt or met with other accident. In this 
case cleanse quickly in cold water and wipe 
perfectly dry before cooking. 

Have a clear hot fire and do not uncover 
that part of the stove above it until you have 
adjusted the steak on the broiler. If you use 
the ordinary iron gridiron, lay the meat on it 
the instant it goes over the fire, but have it 
already warm and rub the bars with a bit of 
fresh suet. 


56 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


When the meat has lain over the coals two 
minutes and begins to “sizzle,” turn it and 
let the other side cook as long. Watch it 
continually and turn whenever it begins to 
drip. Do this quickly to keep in the juices. 
If these should fall in the fire in spite of 
your care, lift it for an instant and hold over 
a plate or dish until the smoke is gone. 
Broiled meats flavored with creosote are not 
uncommon, but always detestable. The knack 
of boiling a steak well is to turn it so often 
and dexterously that it will neither be smoked 
nor scorched. 

Ten minutes should cook it rare, if the fire 
is right and the steak not very thick. Cut 
with a keen blade into the thickest part when 
the time is up. If the heart is of a rich red- 
brown— not the livid purple of uncooked flesh, 
carry broiler and meat to a table where stands 
a hot dish. Lay the steak on this. In a 
saucer have a liberal tablespoonful of butter 
cut into bits, and with these rub both sides 




BROILED MEATS. 


57 


of the smoaking steak, leaving unmelted pieces 
on the top. Sprinkle it also on both sides 
with pepper and salt — about half a teaspoon¬ 
ful of salt and a third as much pepper for a 
large steak. All this must be done quickly. 
Before you begin to cook the steak, prepare 
the butter and measure the salt and pepper. 
Cover the dish closely. If you have not a 
block-tin dish-cover, lay over the steak another 
dish, made very hot in the oven, and set 
both with the meat between them in the plate- 
warmer, or in an open oven, or somewhere 
where it will keep hot for three minutes. 

Serve—i. e. put on the table — as hot as 
possible and on warm plates. Unless you 
have a hot water dish, do not send the steak 
into the dining-room until all have taken their 
places. 

Sometimes steak is tough. You shake your 
head over it as it comes from the butcher’s 
basket. I know of an enterprising meat mer¬ 
chant who objected to a wealthy customer 


58 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


because he would have choice cuts. He was 
willing to pay double for them, but as the 
worthy seller observed : “ We must sell second- 
best cuts, and he’d ought to take his turn.” 

Like sin, tough steak ought not to be, but it 
is! If your turn to take it has come, lay it 
on a clean board, some hours before cooking 
it, and hack it on both sides, criss-cross, with 
a tolerably sharp knife, taking care not to 
cut too deeply. Rub both sides very well with 
the strained juice of a lemon, and set the meat 

in a cold place until you are ready to cook 

it. Do this over night, if you want it for 
breakfast. Very tough, fibrous meat is some¬ 
times made eatable by this process. 

Mutton or Lamb Chops. 

Cut off most of the fat and all the skin. 

A clean bone an inch in length will project 
from the smaller end when you have pared 
away the tallow and skin which would have 

cooked into rankness and leather. 


BROILED MEATS. 


59 


Put as many chops on the broiler as it will 
conveniently hold, and broil as you would 
beefsteak. Cut into the largest to see if it is 
done. If it is, lay the chops on a heated 
dish set over a pot of boiling water; butter, 
pepper and salt them, and cover them up 
while you cook the rest. 

Serve as soon as the last is cooked, as 
they lose flavor with standing. 

Lay sprigs of parsley around the edges 
of the dish and scatter a few over the chops 
which must be arranged in neat rows, a small 
end next to a large. 

Broiled Ham. 

Cut even slices from a cold boiled Ferris & 
Cods “Trade Mark” ham. Divide these into 
oblong pieces about an inch and a half in width, 
and broil quickly over clear coals until a deli¬ 
cate brown touches the slices here and there. 
Lay in order on a hot dish. Broiled ham is 
appetizing, and should be accompanied by dry 
toast, lightly buttered. 


7 


FKIED MEATS. 


Larded Liver. 



HE butcher will slice the liver, or show 


you how to do it. When it is cut up, 
lay it in cold water in which has been stirred 
a teaspoonful of salt This will draw out the 


blood. 


Cut fat, raw salt pork into strips a finger 
long and a quarter of an inch thick and 
wide. 

In half an hour’s time take the liver from 
the water, spread it out on a clean dry cloth, 
lay another cloth over the slices and pat 
gently to dry them thoroughly. Make holes 
an inch apart in the liver with a pen-knife or 


FRIED MEATS. 


61 


sharp skewer, and stick in the pork strips. 
They should protrude an equal distance on 
both sides. 

As fast as they are ready, lay them in a 
clean, warm {not hot) frying-pan. When all 
are in, set it over the fire, and let it fry 
rather slowly in the fat that will run out from 

t 

the pork “lardoons.” In five minutes turn the 
slices, and again ten minutes later. Let the 
liver heat quite slowly for the first ten minutes. 
If cooked fast it is hard and indigestible. 
Allow about twenty-five minutes for frying it. 

Take it up with a fork, draining off every 
drop of grease against the side of the pan as 
you remove each piece, and dish on a hot 
platter. 

Put a half a teaspoonful of tomato sauce on 
each slice. Serve without gravy and very hot. 

Veal Outlets (Breaded). 

Whip two eggs light and pour them into a 
pie-plate. Turn the cutlets, one by one, over 


62 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


in this until every part is coated. In another 
dish spread evenly a cupful of rolled or pounded 
cracker, very fine and dry. Turn the “ egged ” 
cutlets over in this to encrust them well. 

Meanwhile four large spoonfuls of sweet lard 
or nice beef-dripping must be melting in a 
clean frying-pan at one side of the range. 
When the cutlets are all breaded, move the 
pan directly over the fire. As the fat begins 
a lively hiss, put in as many cutlets as can 
lie in it without crowding. In five minutes 
turn them with care, not to loosen the crumb¬ 
coating. After another five minutes of rapid 
frying, pull the pan to a spot where the cook¬ 
ing will go on slowly, but regularly. In ten 
minutes turn the cutlets a second time. In 
another ten minutes they should be done. 

Understand! The first fast cooking sears 
the surface of the meat and forms the breading 
into a firm crust that keeps in the juices. 
The slower work that follows cooks the veal 
thoroughly without hardening the fibres. 


FRIED MEATS. 


63 


Lift the cutlets carefully from the pan, 

draining all the grease from each, and keep 

hot in a covered dish set over a pot of 

boiling water until all are done. 

Always put tomato catsup or tomato sauce, 
in some form, on the table with veal cutlets. 

Sausage Oakes. 

Break off bits of sausage meat of equal 

size, roll them in the palms of clean hands 
into balls and pat them into flat cakes. 
Arrange them in a frying-pan and cook (not 
too fast) in their own fat, turning them twice 
until they are nicely and evenly browned. 
The time allowed for frying them depends on 
the size of the cakes. If they are not large, 
fifteen minutes should be enough. 

Serve on a hot dish, without gravy. 

Smothered Sausages. 

Prick “link” sausages—that is, those done 
up in skins, in fifteen or twenty places, with 


64 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


a large needle; put them in a clean frying-pan 
in which is a half a teacup full of hot 
water. Roll the sausages over in this several 
times and cover closely. If you have not the 
lid of a pot or of a tin-pail that fits the 
frying-pan, use a pie-dish turned upside down. 
Set the pan where the water will bubble 
slowly, for ten minutes. Lift the cover then, 
and roll the sausages over again two or three 
times, to wet them thoroughly, leaving them 
with the sides up that were down. Cover 
again and cook ten minutes longer. Turn 
them twice more, at intervals of five minutes, 
cover, and let them steam four minutes before 
taking them up. They will be plump, whole, 
tender and well-done, and the bottom of the 
pan be almost dry. Lay in neat rows on a 
hot dish. 

Pish Balls. 

Soak a pound of cod-fish all night in cold 
water. Change it in the morning, and cover 
with lukewarm water for three hours more. 


FRIED MEATS. 


65 


Wash it, scraping off the salt and fat; put it 
into a sauce-pan, cover it well with water just 
blood-warm, and let it simmer — that is, not 
quite boil, two hours. Take it up, pick out the 
bones and remove the skin, and set the fish 
aside to cool. 

When perfectly cold chop it fine in a wooden 
tray. Have ready, for a cupful of minced fish, 
nearly two cupfuls of potato boiled and mashed 
very smooth. * 

A tablespoonful of butter. 

Half a teaspoonful of salt. 

Two tablespoonfuls of milk worked into 
the fish while hot. 

Add also, when the potato has been 
rubbed until free from lumps, the 
beaten yolk of an egg. Work this in 
well with a wooden or silver spoon. 

Now stir in the chopped fish, a little at a 
time, mixing all together until you have 
a soft mass which you can handle 


66 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Drop a tablespoonful of the mixture on a 
floured pastry board, or a floured dish. Flour 
your hands, roll the fish and potato into 

a ball, and pat it into a cake, or make it as 
round as a marble. Lay these as you form 
them on a dish dusted with flour, and when 
all are made out, set in a cool place until 

morning. 

Half an hour before breakfast, have five or 
six great spoonfuls of sweet lard hissing hot in 
a frying-pan or doughnut-kettle. Put in the 
balls a few at a time, turn as they color; 
take them out when they are of a tanny 

brown, lay them in a hot colander set in a 

plate, and keep warm in the open oven until 
all are fried. 

A Breakfast Stew (very nice). 

Two pounds of lean beef. (The “ second 
best cuts ” may be used here.) 

A quarter of a medium-sized onion. 

A tablespoonful of browned flour. 



FRIED MEATS. 67 

Half a teaspoonful each of minced parsley, 

summer savory, and sweet marjoram. 
As much allspice as will lie on a silver 
dime. 

One teaspoonful of Halford sauce. 

One saltspoonful of made mustard. 

One saltspoonful of pepper. 

Strained juice of half a lemon. 

Cut the meat into pieces an inch square. 

Put it with the chopped onion into a sauce- 

pan with a pint of lukewarm water; cover 

closely and cook slowly, at least two hours 

and a half. The meat should not be allowed 

to boil hard at any time, and when done, be 

; 

so tender that it is ready to fall to pieces. 

Pour the stew into a bowl, add the salt and 
pepper, cover it and set in a cool place until 
next morning. 

Then put it back into the sauce-pan, set it 
over a quick fire, and when it begins to boil, 
stir in the spice and herbs. (The latter may 


68 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


be bought dried and powdered at the druggist’s 
if you cannot get them fresh.) 

Boil up sharply five minutes. 

The flour should be browned the day before, 
by spreading it on a tin plate and setting this 
on the stove, stirring constantly to keep it 
from burning black. Or a better way is, to 
set the tin plate in a hot oven, opening the 
door now and then to stir it. It is a good 
plan to brown a good deal — say a cupful of 
flour — at a time, and keep it in a glass jar 
for thickening gravies, etc. 

Wet up a heaping tablespoonful of this with 
three tablespoonfuls of cold water, the lemon- 
juice, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Rub 
smooth and stir well into the stew. Boil two 
minutes longer to thicken the gravy and turn 
out into a deep covered dish. 

This is a good dinner, as well as breakfast 
dish. A teaspoonful of catsup is an improve¬ 


ment. 






8 


WHAT TO DO WITH “LEPT-OVEKS” 

VOLUME, instead of a single chapter, 



might be written upon the various 
methods of preparing what the French call 
“ rechauffes and we speak of, usually con¬ 
temptuously, as “warmed-over” meats. Cold 
meat is seldom tempting except to the very 
hungry. Cold tongue, ham and poultry are 
well enough on picnics and as a side-dish at 
tea. At breakfast they are barely admissible; 
for a simple luncheon tolerable; for dinner 
hardly excusable. At the first and last meal 
of the day, the stomach craves something hot 
and relishable. . 

A wife told me, once, with strong disgust 


69 


70 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


in the remembrance, that when her husband 
took her on the wedding-trip to visit his 
mother, a frugal Massachusetts matron, they 
were set down within half an hour after their 
arrival, to lunch on a cold eel-pie left from 
the day before. The daughter-in-law, forty 
years later, spoke feelingly of the impression 
of niggardliness and inhospitality made on her 
mind by the incident. 

“ If she had even warmed it up, I should 
not have felt so forlornly homesick,” she said. 
“But cold eel-pie! Think of it! ” 

I confess to heartfelt sympathy with the 

complainant. There is a suggestion of friendli- 
ness and home-comfort in the “goodly smell” of 
a steaming-hot entree set before family or guest. 
It argues forethought for those who are to 
be fed. We have the consciousness that we 
are expected and that somebody has cared 

enough for us to make ready a visible wel¬ 
come. Pale slices of cold mutton, and thin 

slabs of corned beef cannot, with the best 




WHAT TO DO WITH “LEFT-OVERS.” 


71 


intentions on the part of the caterer, convey 
this. 

The summing up of this lecture, is: Neither 
despise unlikely fragments left over from roast, 
baked or boiled, nor consider them good enough 
as they are without “rehabilitation.” 

We will begin with a dish the mention of 
which provokes a sneer more often than any 
other known to civilization. 

Hash. 

Rid cold corned or roast beef of fat, skin 
and gristle, and mince it in a wooden tray 
with a sharp chopper until the largest piece 
is not more than an eighth of an inch 
square. 

With two cupfuls of this mix a cupful of 

mashed potato rubbed smooth with a potato 

% 

beater or wooden spoon. 

Season well with pepper and salt if the 
beef be fresh, if corned use the salt sparingly 
and pepper well. 





72 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Set a clean frying-pan on the stove with a 
cupful of beef gravy in it from which you 
have skimmed all the fat. Clear soup will do 
if you have no gravy. If you have neither, 
pour into the pan a half-pint of boiling water 
and stir into this three tablespoonfuls of but¬ 
ter. When the butter-water (or gravy) reaches 
the boil, add a half-teaspoonful of made mustard. 

Then put in the meat and potato and stir — 
scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent 
sticking — for five minutes, or until you have 
a bubbling-hot mass, not stiff, nor yet semi¬ 
liquid. It must have been brought to boiling 
heat and kept at it about five minutes, cook¬ 
ing so fast that you have to stir and toss 
constantly lest it should scorch. 

Heap on a hot dish, and eat from hot 
plates. 

Hash Oakes. 

Having prepared the hash as above set it 
aside until cold, when mould into flat cakes 


WHAT TO DO WITH “LEFT-OVERS.” 


73 


as you would sausage meat, and roll in flour. 
Heat nice beef-dripping to a boil in a frying- 
pan, lay in the cakes, and fry to a light 
brown on both sides. 

Beef Croquettes. 

You can make these of the cold hash by 
moulding it into rolls about three and a half 
inches long, and rather more than an inch in 
diameter. Roll these over and over on a . 
floured dish or board to get them smooth and 
regular in shape; flatten the ends by setting 
each upright on the floury dish, and put enough 
dripping in the pan to cover them as they lie 
on their sides in it. It should be very hot 
before they go in. 

Roll over carefully in the fat as they brown, 
not to spoil the shape. Do not put too many 
in the pan at once ; as fast as they are done 
take them up and lay in a hot colander until 
all are ready. Arrange neatly on a heated flat 
dish and serve. 





74 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 



A Mutton Stew. 

Cut slices of cold mutton half an inch 
thick, trim away fat and skin and diyide the 
lean meat into neat squares about an inch 
across. 

Drop a piece of onion as large as a hickory- 

nut in a cupful of water and boil fifteen 

minutes. Strain the water through a bit of 
muslin, squeezing the onion hard to extract 

the flavor. Allow this cupful of water to two 

cupfuls of meat. If you have less mutton use 
less water; if more increase the quantity of 
liquid. 

Pour the water into a clean saucepan and 
when it boils add two full tablespoonfuls of 
butter cut into bits and rolled over and over 
in browned flour until no more will adhere to 
the butter. 

Stir this in with a little pepper and salt, a 
pinch of mace and a teaspoonful of lemon- 
juice. Boil up once and drop in the meat. 
Cover closely and let it simmer at one side 








WHAT TO DO WITH “LEFT-OVERS.” 


75 


of the stove, almost, but never quite boiling, 
for ten minutes. 

Turn into a deep dish and serve very hot. 

Minced Mutton on Toast. 

Trim off skin and fat from slices of cold 
mutton and mince in a chopping-tray. Season 
with pepper and salt. 

Into a clean frying-pan, pour a cupful of 
mutton-gravy which has been skimmed well, 
mixed with a little hot water and strained 
through a. bit of coarse muslin. 

When this boils, wet a teaspoonful of 
browned flour with three tablespoonfuls of cold 
water, and a teaspoonful of tomato or walnut 
catsup, or half a teaspoonful of Worcestershire 
sauce. Rub out all the lumps and stir into 
the gravy in the frying-pan. Boil up once 
well before putting in the mutton. 

As soon as the mixture bubbles and smokes 
all over, draw it to one side of the range 
where it will keep hot, but not quite boil; 




76 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 



cover it closely, and let it stand five minutes. 
Warmed-over mutton becomes insipid when 
cooked too much. 

Before the mince is put into the pan, toast 
the bread. Cut thick slices from a stale loaf, 
and trim off the crust. If you would have 
them look particularly nice, cut them round with 
a cake or biscuit-cutter. Toast to a light- 
brown, and keep hot until the mince is 
cooked. 

Then lay the toast on a heated platter; 
butter the rounds well on both sides, and 
pour on each a tablespoonful of boiling water. 
Heap a great spoonful of the minced mutton 
on each piece. 

The mince should not be a stiff paste, nor 
yet so soft as to run all over the dish. 
A cupful of gravy will be enough for three 
cupfuls of meat. 

Some people fancy a little green pickle or 
chow chow chopped very fine and mixed 
•n with the mince while cooking. Others 





WHAT TO DO WITH “LEFT-OVERS.” 


77 


think the dish improved by the addition 
of a teaspoonful of lemon-juice put in just 
before taking it from the fire. 

Devilled Mutton. 

Cut even slices of cold mutton, not too 
fat. 

Stir together and melt in a clean frying- 
pan two tablespoonfuls of butter and 
one of currant or grape jelly. 

When it hisses lay in the mutton and 
heat slowly — turning several times — 
for five minutes, or until the slices 
are soft and very hot, but not until 
they begin to crisp. 

Take out the meat, lay on a warmed 
dish, cover and set over boiling 
'water. 

To the butter and jelly left in the pan 
add three tablespoonfuls of vinegar. 

A small teaspoonful of made mustard. 

A quarter spoonful of salt. 




78 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Half as much pepper as you have salt. 

Stir together over the fire until they boil, 
and pour on the meat. Cover three 
minutes over boiling water, and serve. 

Devilled, or Barbecued Ham. 

Slice cold Ferris & Co.’s “Trade Mark ” ham, 
lean and fat together, and lay in a clean frying- 
pan. Fry gently in the grease that runs from 
it as it heats, until the lean is soft, the fat 
clear and beginning to crisp at the edges. 

Take out the slices with a fork, lay on a 
warmed dish ; keep hot over boiling water. 

Add to the fat left in the frying-pan: 

Four tablespoonfuls of vinegar. 

A small teaspoonful of made mustard. 

As much pepper as will lie easily on 
a silver half-dime. 

Stir until it boils, then pour on the ham. 
Let it stand covered over the boiling 
water for five minutes before sending 
to the table. 


WHAT TO DO WITH “LEFT-OVERS.” 


79 


Chicken Croquettes. 

One cup of cold chicken, minced fine. 

One quarter cup of pounded cracker. 

One teaspoonful of cornstarch, wet up in 
a little cold water. 

One egg. 

One tablespoonful of butter. 

Half a tablespoonful of salt. 

A good pinch of pepper. 

Half a cupful of boiling water. 

Mix minced chicken and crumbs together 
in a bowl with salt and pepper. 

Put the boiling water in a clean saucepan, 
add the butter and set over the fire. When 
the butter is melted stir in the wet corn 
starch. Boil and stir until it thickens. 

Have the egg beaten light in a bowl and 
pour the hot mixture upon it. Beat well, and 
mix with the minced chicken. Let it get per¬ 
fectly cold and make into croquettes as di¬ 
rected for beef croquettes. 




80 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


But roll these in a well-beaten egg, then in 
fine cracker-crumbs instead of flour, and fry, a 
few at a time, in a mixture half-butter, half-lard 
enough to cover them well. Drain off every 
drop of fat from eaeh croquette as you take 
it up, and keep hot until all are done. 

Serve hot and at once. 


9 


DIN NEE DISHES. 

T AM amused and yet made thoughtful by 
"*■ the fact that so many young housekeepers 
write to me of their pleasure in cake-making 
and their desire to learn how to compound 
what are usually known as “ fancy-dishes,” 
some sending excellent receipts for loaf-cake, 
cookies and doughnuts, while few express the 
least interest in soups, meats and vegetables. 
The drift of the dear creatures’ thoughts re¬ 
minds me of a rhymed — “If I had]” which I 
read years ago, setting forth how a little boy 
would have if he could, a house built of 
pastry, floored with taffy, ceiled with sugar¬ 
plums, and roofed with frosted gingerbread, 

81 


82 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNFRS. 


In engaging a cook one does not ask, first 
of all, “ Can you get up handsome desserts ? ” 
but, “ Do you understand bread-making and 
baking, and the management of meats, soups, 
and other branches of plain cookery?” 

The same “ plain cookery ” is the pivot on 
which the family health and comfort rest and 
turn. If you would qualify yourselves to be¬ 
come thorough housewives, it is as essential 
that you should master the principles of this, 
as that a musician should be able to read 
the notes on the staff. Some people do play 
tolerably by ear, but they are never ranked 
as students, much less as professors of music. 
“Fancy” cookery is to the real thing what 
embroidery is to the art of the seamstress. 
She who has learned how to use her needle 
deftly upon “seam, gusset and band,” will 
find the acquisition of ornamental stitches an 
easy matter. Skill in Kensington and satin 
stitch is of little value in fitting one to do 
“fine,” which is also useful sewing. 



DINNER DISHES. 


83 


I am sorry to add that my observation 
goes to prove that more American housekeep¬ 
ers can make delicate and rich cake than 
excellent soups. 

Soup Stock. 

Two pounds coarse lean beef, chopped almost 
as fine as sausage-meat. 

One pound of lean veal — also chopped. 

Two pounds of bones (beef, veal, or mut¬ 
ton) cracked in several places. 

Half an onion chopped. 

Two or three stalks of celery, when you 
can get it. 

Five quarts of cold water. 

Meat and bones should be raw, but if you 
have bones left from underdone beef or mut¬ 
ton, you may crack and add them. Put all 
the ingredients (no salt or pepper) in a large 
clean pot, cover it closely and set at one side 
of the range where it will not get really hot 
under two hours. This gives the water time 


84 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


to draw out the juices of the meat. Then 
remove to a warmer place, stir up well from 
the bottom, and cook slowly five hours longer. 

It should never boil hard, but “bubble- 
bubble” softly and steadily all the while. Fast 
boiling toughens the fibres and keeps in the 
juice of the meat which should form the body 
of the soup. When the time is up, lift the 
pot from the fire, throw in a heaping table¬ 
spoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of pepper, 
and pour out into your “stock-pot.” This 
should be a stout stone crock or jar, with 
a cover, and be used for nothing else. 

See that it is free from grease, dust and 
all smell, scald out with hot water and soda, 

then with clean boiling water just before pour¬ 

ing in the soup, or the hot liquid may crack it. 

Put on the cover and set in a cold place 

until next day. 

Then take off every particle of the caked 
fat from the top. You can use this as drip¬ 
ping for frying. Soup that has globules of 


DINNER DISHES. 


85 


grease floating on the surface is unwholesome 
and slovenly. 

Strain the skimmed liquid through a colander, 
squeezing the meat hard to extract every drop 
of nutriment. Throw away the tasteless fibres 
and bones when you have wrung them dry. 

This process should give you about three 
quarts of strong “stock.” 

Rinse your jar well and pour back the 
strained stock into it to be used as the foun¬ 
dation of several days’ soups. Season it highly 
and keep in a cold place — in warm weather 
on the ice. 

I hope you will not fail to set up a “stock- 
pot.” Every family should have one. It makes 
the matter of really good soups simple and 
easy. 

Clear Soup with Sago or Tapioca. 

Soak half a cup of German sago or pearl 
tapioca four hours in a large cup of cold 
water. An hour before dinner put a quart 



86 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


of your soup-stock on the stove and bring 
quickly almost to a boil. When it is hot, stir 
in the raw white and the shell of an egg, 
and, stirring frequently to prevent the egg 
from catching * on the bottom of the pot, boil 
fast ten minutes. 

Take off and strain through a clean thick 
cloth, wrung out in hot water and laid like a 
lining in your colander. Do not squeeze the 
cloth, or you will muddy the soup. 

Return the liquid, when strained, to the 
saucepan, which must be perfectly clean ; stir 
in the soaked tapioca and a teaspoonful of 
minced parsley, and simmer half an hour on 
the side of the range. 

If necessary, add a little more seasoning. 

When you have made nice clear soup once, 
you may, if you like, color the second supply 
with a little “ caramel-water.” 

This is made by putting a tablespoonful of 
sugar in a tin cup and setting it over the fire 
until it breaks up into brown bubbles, then 



DINNER DISHES. 


87 


pouring a few tablespoonfuls of boiling water 
on it and stirring it until dissolved. A table¬ 
spoonful of this in a quart of clear soup will 
give a fine amber color and not injure the 

Savor. Send all soups in to table very hot. 

Julienne Soup. 

One quarter of a firm white cabbage, shred 
as for cold slaw. 

One small turnip, peeled and cut into 
thin dice. 

One carrot, peeled and cut into strips like 
inch-long straws. 

One teaspoonful of onion shred fine. 

Three raw tomatoes, peeled and cut into 
bits. 

One tablespoonful of minced parsley, and, 
if you can get it, three stalks of cel¬ 
ery cut into thin slices. 

Use a sharp knife for this work and bruise 
the vegetables as little as possible. 




88 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


When all are prepared, put them in hot 
water enough to cover them, throw in a tea¬ 
spoonful of salt and cook gently half an hour. 

Clear a quart of soup-stock as directed in 
the last receipt, and color it with a teaspoon¬ 
ful of Halford sauce, or walnut catsup. 

When the vegetables are tender, turn them 
into a colander to drain, taking care not to 
mash or break them. Throw away the water 
in which they were boiled, and add the vege¬ 
tables to the clear hot soup. 

Taste, to determine if it needs more pepper 
or salt, and simmer all together gently twenty 
minutes before turning into the tureen. 


White Chicken Soup (Delicious). 



A tough fowl can be converted into very 
delicious dishes by boiling it first for soup 
and mincing it, when cold, for croquettes. 

In boiling it, allow a quart of cold water 
for each pound of chicken, and set it where 


it will heat very slowly. 










DINNER DISHES. 


89 


If the fowl be quite old do not let it 

reach a boil under two hours, then boil very 
gently four hours, longer. 

Throw in a tablespoonful of salt when you 
take it from the fire, turn chicken and liquor 
into a bowl and set in a cold place all night. 

Next day skim off the fat, strain the broth 
from the chicken, shaking the colander to do 

this well, and put aside the meat for cro¬ 

quettes or a scallop. 

Set three pints of the broth over the fire 
with a teaspoonful of chopped onion, season 
with salt and pepper, and let it boil half an 

hour. Line a colander with a thick cloth, and 
strain the liquid, squeezing the cloth to get the 
flavor of the onion. 

Return the strained soup to the saucepan, 
with a tablespoonful of minced parsley, and 
bring to a boil. Meanwhile, scald in a farina 
kettle a cupful ot milk, dropping into it a bit 
of soda the size of a pea. 

Stir into this' when hot, a tablespoonful of 


90 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


cornstarch wet up with cold milk. When 
it thickens scrape it out into a bowl in 
which you have two eggs whipped light. 
Beat all together well, and stir in, spoonful by 
spoonful, a cupful of the boiling soup. 

Draw the soup pot to one side of the 
range, stir in the contents of the bowl, and 
let it stand — but not boil — three minutes 
before pouring into the tureen. 

Chicken and Rice Soup 

Is made as white chicken soup, but with the 
addition of four tablespoonfuls of rice, boiled 
soft, and added to the chicken liquor at the 
same time with the parsley. Then proceed as 
directed, with milk, eggs, etc. 

Tomato Soup. 

Add a quart of raw tomatoes, peeled and 
sliced, or a can of stewed tomatoes, 
and half a small onion to a quart of 
stock, and stew slowly one hour. 


DINNER DISHES. 


91 


Strain and rub through a colander and set 
again over the fire. 

Stir in a tablespoonful of butter cut up 
and rubbed into a tablespoonful of 
flour. 

A tablespoonful of cornstarch wet up with 
cold water. 

Season to taste with pepper and salt, 
boil once more and pour out. 

Bean Soup. 

Soak one pint of dried beans all night in 
lukewarm water. In the morning add three 
quarts of cold water, half a pound of nice 
salt pork, cut into strips, half an onion chopped, 
and three stalks of celery, cut small. Set at 
one side of the fire until it is very hot, then 
where it will cook slowly, and let it boil 
four hours. Stir up often from the bottom, as 
bean-soup is apt to scorch. 

An hour before dinner, set a colander over 
another pot and rub the bean porridge through 





92 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


the holes with a stout wooden spoon, leaving 
the skins in the colander. 

Return the soup to the fire, stir in a table¬ 
spoonful of butter rubbed in a tablespoonful 
of flour, and simmer gently fifteen minutes 
longer. 

Have ready in the tureen a double handful 
of strips or squares of stale bread, fried like 
doughnuts in dripping, and drained dry. Also, 
half a lemon, peeled and sliced very thin. 

Pour the soup on these and serve. 

A Soup Maigre (without Meat). 

Twelve mealy potatoes, peeled and sliced. 

One quart of tomatoes—canned or fresh. 

One half of an onion. 

Two stalks of celery. 

One tablespoonful of minced parsley. 

Four tablespoonfuls of butter, cut up and 
rolled in flour. 

One tablespoonful of cornstarch wet and 
dissolved in cold water. 







DINNER DISHES. 


93 


One lump of white sugar. 

Three quarts of cold water will be needed. 

Parboil the sliced potatoes fifteen minutes 
in enough hot water to cover them well. 
Drain this off and throw it away. Put pota¬ 
toes, tomatoes, onion, celery and parsley on 
in three quarts of cold water, and cook gently 
two hours. 

Then rub them all through a colander, re¬ 
turn the soup to the pot, drop in the sugar, 
season to taste with pepper and salt, boil up 
once and take off the scum before adding the 
floured butter, and when this is dissolved, the 
cornstarch. 

Stir two minutes over the fire, and your 
soup is ready for the table. Very good it 
will prove, too, if the directions be exactly 
followed. 

When celery is out of season, you can use 
instead of it, a little essence of celery, or, 
what is better, celery salt. 





io 


MEATS. 

O NE of the most comico-pathetico true 
stories I know is that of a boy, the 
youngest of a large family, who, having always 
sat at the second table, knew nothing experi¬ 
mentally of the choicer portions of chicken or 
turkey. Being invited out to dinner as the 
guest of a playmate, he was asked, first of all 
present, “ what part of the turkey he pre¬ 
ferred.” 

“The carker ” (carcass), “and a little of the 
stuff” (stuffing), “if you please,” replied the 
poor little fellow, with prompt politeness. 

It was his usual ration, and in his igno¬ 
rance, he craved nothing better. 

94 




MEATS. 


95 


The pupil in cookery who enjoys tossing up 
entries , and devising dainty rechauffes , but can¬ 
not support the thought of handling raw 
chickens and big-boned joints of butcher’s 
meat, is hardly wiser than he. 

It is a common fallacy to believe that this 
branch of the culinary art is uninteresting 
drudgery, fit only for the hands of the very 
plain hired cook. 

Another mistake, almost as prevalent, lies in 
supposing that she can, of course, perform the 

40 

duty properly. There is room for intelligent 
skill in so simple a process as roasting a 
piece of meat, nor is the task severe or 
repulsive. Practically, it is far more important 
to know how to do this well, than to be profi¬ 
cient in cake, jelly, and pudding making. 

Eoast Beef. 

Have a steady, moderate fire in the stove- 
grate. Increase the heat when the meat is 
thoroughly warmed. 


96 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Lay the beef, skin side uppermost, in a clean 
baking-pan, and dash all over it two cups 
of boiling water in which a teaspoonful of salt 
has been dissolved. This sears the surface 
slightly, and keeps in the juices. 

Shut the oven door, and do not open again 
for twenty minutes. Then, with a ladle or 
iron spoon dip up the salted water and pour 
it over the top of the meat, wetting every 
part again and again. Eight or ten ladlefuls 
should be used in this “basting,” which should 
be repeated every fifteen minutes for the next 
hour. Allow twelve minutes to each pound of 
meat in roasting beef. 

Do not swing the oven door wide while you 
baste, but slip your hand (protected by an old 
glove or a napkin) into the space left by the 
half-open door, and when you have wet the 
surface of the roast quickly and well, shut it 
up again to heat and steam. 

A little care in this respect will add much 
to the flavor and tenderness of the beef. 




MEATS. 


97 


Should one side of it, or the back, brown 
more rapidly than the rest, turn the pan in 
the oven, and should the water dry up 
to a few spoonfuls, pour in another cupful 
from the tea-kettle. 

About twenty minutes before the time for 
the roasting is up, draw the pan to the oven- 
door, and sift flour over the meat from a flour 
dredger or a small sieve. Shut the door until 
the flour browns, then baste abundantly, and 
dredge again. 

In five minutes, or when this dredging is 
brown, rub the top of the meat with a good 
teaspoonful of butter, dredge quickly and close 
the door. 

If the fire is good, in a few minutes a 
nice brown froth will encrust the surface of 
the cooked meat. Lift the pan to the side 
table, take up the beef by slipping a strong 
cake-turner or broad knife under it, holding it 
firmly with a fork, and transfer to a heated 
platter. 





98 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Set in the plate-warmer, or over boiling 
water, while you make the gravy. 

Gravy (brown). 

Set the pan in which the meat was roasted, 
on the range when the beef has been removed 
to a dish. Scrape toward the centre the 
browned flour from sides and bottom and dust 
in a little more from your dredger as you 
stir. If the water has boiled away until the 
bottom of the pan is exposed, add a little, 
boiling hot , directly from the teakettle and 
stir until the gravy is of the consistency of 
rich cream. 

Pepper to taste and pour into a gravy boat. 

While I give these directions, I may remark 
that few people of nice taste like made thick¬ 
ened gravy with roast beef. Many prefer, in¬ 
stead, the red essence which follows the 
carver’s knife and settles in the dish. The 
carver should give each person helped his or 
her choice in this matter. 


MEATS. 


99 


I am thus explicit with regard to roasting 
beef because the process is substantially the 
same with all meats. Dash scalding water 
over the piece put down for cooking in this 
way: heat rather slowly at first, increasing 
the heat as you go on; baste faithfully; keep 
the oven open as little as may be and dredge, 
then baste, alternately, for twenty minutes, or 
so, before dishing the meat. 

Boast Mutton. 

Cook exactly as you would beef: but if you 
wish a made gravy, pour it first from the 
baking-pan into a bowl and set in cold water 
five minutes, or until the fat has risen to the 
top. 

Skim off all of this that you can remove 
without disturbing the dregs. It is “ mutton- 
tallow”—very good for chapped hands, but 
not for human stomachs. Return the gravy to 
the fire, thicken, add boiling water, if needed, 
and stir until smooth. 


100 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Always send currant, or grape jelly, around 
with mutton and lamb. 

Eoast Lamb. 

Cook two minutes less in the pound than 
you would mutton. Instead of gravy, you can 
send in with it, if you choose 

Mint Sauce. 

To two tablespoonfuls of chopped mint, add 
a tablespoonful of white sugar and nearly two 
thirds of a cup of vinegar. Let them stand 
together ten minutes in a cool place before 
sending to table. 

Koast Veal 

Must be cooked twice as long as beef or 
mutton, and very well basted, the flesh being 
fibrous and dry. To the made gravy add two 
teaspoonfuls of stewed and strained tomato, oi 
one tablespoonful of tomato catsup, and cook 
one minute before pouring into the gravy-boat. 


MEATS. 


101 


Eoast Turkey, Chicken or Duck. 

It would not be possible for me to write 
such directions as would enable you to pre¬ 
pare a fowl for cooking. Yet I advise you to 
learn how to draw and dress poultry. Watch 
the process closely, if you have opportunity, or 
else ask some experienced friend to instruct you. • 

For the present we will suppose that our 
fowl is ready for the roasting pan. Lay it in 
tenderly, breast uppermost, pour a bountiful 
cup of boiling water, slightly salted, over it, 
if it be a chicken or duck, two cupfuls, if a 
turkey, and roast, basting often, about twelve 
minutes for each pound. When the breastbone 
browns, turn the fowl on one side, and as 
this colors, on the other, that all may be 
done evenly. Dredge once with flour fifteen 
minutes before taking up the roast and when 
this browns, rub all over with a tablespoonful 
of butter. Shut up ten minutes longer and it 
is ready for dishing. 

Chop the liver and soft parts of the gizzard 
— which have been roasted with the fowl— 

/ 


102 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


fine, and stir into the gravy while you are 
making it. 

Fricasseed Chicken, 

Cut up a full-grown fowl into joints, divid¬ 
ing the back and breast into two pieces each: 
Lay these in cold water, slightly salted, for 

half an hour. Wipe dry with a clean cloth. 
In the bottom of a pot scatter a handful 

of chopped fat salt pork, with half a teaspoon¬ 
ful of minced onion. On this lay the pieces 

of chicken. Sprinkle a double handful of pork 
on the top with another half teaspoonful of 
onion, pour in carefully, enough cold water to 
cover all, fit on a close top, and set the pot 
where it will heat slowly. It should not boil 
under one hour at least. Increase the heat, 
then, but keep at a very gentle boil for 
another hour, or until the chicken is tender. 
The time needed for cooking will depend on 
the age of the fowl. Fast stewing will harden 
and toughen it. 

When done, take out the chicken with a 
fork and arrange on a warm dish, covering 


MEATS. 


103 


and keeping it hot in the plate warmer or 
over boiling water. Add to the gravy left in 
the pot two tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley, 
a heaping tablespoonful of butter cut up in 
the same quantity of flour, half a teaspoonful 
of salt, and a quarter of a teaspoonful of 
pepper. Stir to a boil. Meanwhile, beat up 
an egg in a bowl, add a teaspoonful of corn¬ 
starch, and a small cupful of milk, and when 
these are mixed, a cupful of the boiling gravy. 
Beat hard and pour into the pot where is the 
rest of the gravy. Bring to a quick boil, take 
at once from the fire and pour over the 
chicken. Cover and let it stand over hot 
water three minutes before sending to table. 

Smothered Chicken. 

The chicken must be split down the back 
as for broiling, washed well and wiped dry. 
Lay it, breast upward, in a baking pan; pour 
jn two cups of boiling water, in which has been 
dissolved a heaping tablespoonful of butter, 


104 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


and cover with another pan turned upside 
down and fitting exactly the edges of the 
lower one. Cook slowly half an hour, lift the 
cover and baste plentifully with the butter 
water in the pan; cover again and leave for 
twenty minutes more. Baste again, and yet 
once more in another quarter of an hour. 
Try the chicken with a fork to see if it is 
done. 

An hour and ten minutes should be enough 
for a young fowl. Baste the last time with a 
tablespoonful of butter; cover and leave in 
the oven ten minutes longer before transfer¬ 
ring to a hot dish. It should be of a fine 
yellow brown all over, but crisped nowhere. 

Thicken the gravy with a tablespoonful of 
browned flour, wet up in a little water, salt 
and pepper to taste, boil up once and pour 
a cupful over the chicken, the rest into a 
gravy boat. 

There is no more delightful preparation of 
chicken than this. 


MEATS. 


105 


Boiled Corn Beef. 

Lay in clean cold water for five or six 
hours when you have washed off all the salt. 
Wipe and put it into a pot and cover deep 
in cold water. Boil gently twenty-five minutes 
per pound. When done, take the pot from 

the fire and set in the sink with the meat in 
it, while you make the sauce. 

Strain a large cupful of the liquor into a 

saucepan and set it over the fire. Wet a 

tablespoonful of flour up with cold water, and 

* 

when the liquor boils, stir it in with a great 
spoonful of butter. Beat it smooth before 

adding the juice of a lemon. Serve in a gravy- 
dish. Take up the beef, letting all the liquor 

drain from it, and send in on a hot platter. 

(Save the pot-liquor for bean soup.) 

Boiled Mutton. 

Sew up the leg of mutton in a stout piece 
of mosquito net or of “cheese cloth;” lay it 

in a pot and cover several inches deep with 




106 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


boiling water. Throw in a tablespoonful of 
salt, and cook twelve minutes to the pound. 
Take up the cloth with the meat in it and 
dip in very cold water. Remove the bag and 
dish the meat. 

Before taking up the mutton, make your 
sauce, using as a base a cupful of the liquor 
dipped from the pot. Proceed with this as 
you did with the drawn butter sauce for the 
corned beef, but instead of the lemon juice, 
add two tablespoonfuls of capers if you have 
them. If not, the same quantity of chopped 
green pickle. 


11 


VEGETABLES. 

I N attempting to make out under the above 
heading, a list of receipts, I have laid 
down my pen several times in sheer discour¬ 
agement. The number and variety of esculents 
supplied by the American market-gardener 
would need for a just mention of each, a trea¬ 
tise several times larger than our volume. I 
have, therefore, selected a few of the vege¬ 
tables in general use on our tables, and given 
the simplest and most approved methods of 
preparing them. 

As a preface I transcribe from “ Common 
Sense in the Household ” “ Rules applicable 

TO THE COOKING OF ALL VEGETABLES.” 


107 


108 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Have them as fresh as possible. 

Pick over, wash well, and cut out all de¬ 
cayed parts. 

Lay them when peeled in cold water before 
cooking. 

If you boil them put a little salt in the 
water. 

Cook steadily after you put them • on. 

Be sure they are thoroughly done. 

Drain well. 

Serve hot! 


Potatoes (boiled). 

Pare them thin with a sharp knife. The 
starch or meal lies, in greatest quantities, 
nearest to the skin. Lay in clean cold water 
for one hour, if the potatoes are newly gath¬ 
ered. Old potatoes should be left in the water 
for several hours. If very old, they will be 
the better for soaking all night. New potatoes 
require half an hour for boiling, and. the skins 
are rubbed off with a coarse cloth before they 


VEGETABLES. 


109 


are cooked. Those stored for winter use should 
be boiled forty-five minutes. 

Wipe each dry before dropping them into a 
kettle of boiling water, in which has been 
mixed a heaping tablespoonful of salt. 

Boil steadily until a fork will go easily into 

the largest. 

Turn off the water by tipping The pot over 
on its side in the sink, holding the top on 
with a thick cloth wrapped about your hand, 
and leaving room at the lowest edge of the 
cover for the water to escape, but not for a 
potato to slip through. 

Set the pot uncovered on the range; sprinkle 
a tablespoonful of salt over the potatoes, shak¬ 
ing the pot as you do this, and leave it where 
they will dry off, but not scorch, for five 
minutes. 


Mashed Potatoes. 

Boil as directed in last receipt, and when 
the potatoes have been dried off, remove the 


110 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


pot to the sink, or table, break and whip 
them into powder with a four-tined fork, or a 
split spoon. When fine, add a great spoonful 
of butter, whipped in thoroughly, salting to 
taste as you go on. 

Have ready a cup of milk almost boiling, 
and beat in until the potato is soft and smooth. 

Heap in a deep dish for the table. 

Onions (boiled). 

Remove the outer layers until you reach 
the sleek, silvery, crisp skins. Cook in plenty 
of boiling, salted water, until tender. Forty 
minutes should be sufficient, unless the onions 
are very old and large. Turn off all the 
water; add a cupful from the tea-kettle with 
one of warm milk and stew gently ten min¬ 
utes. 

Heat, meanwhile, in a sauce-pan, half a cup¬ 
ful of milk with a large tablespoonful of 
butter. 

Drain the onions in a hot clean colander, 


VEGETABLES. 


Ill 


turn them into a heated deep dish, salt and 
pepper lightly, and pour the boiling milk and 
butter over them. 

Onions cooked thus are not nearly so rank 
of flavor as when boiled in but one water. 

Tomatoes (stewed). 

Put ripe tomatoes into a pan, pour boiling 
water directly from the kettle, upon them, and 
cover closely for five minutes. The skins will 
then come off easily. 

When all are peeled, cut them up, throwing 
away the unripe parts and the cores, and put 
them into a clean saucepan with half a tea¬ 
spoonful of salt. 

Stew twenty minutes before adding a heap¬ 
ing tablespoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of 
white sugar (for a dozen large tomatoes) and 
a little pepper. Stew gently fifteen minutes, 
and serve. 

Scalloped Tomatoes. 

Scald, skin, and cut each crosswise, into 


112 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


two or three pieces. Just melt a teaspoonful 
of butter in a pie-plate, or pudding-dish, and 
put into this a layer of tomatoes. Lay a bit 
of butter on each slice, sprinkle lightly with 
salt, pepper, and white sugar, and cover with 
fine dry cracker, or bread crumbs. Fill the 
dish with alternate layers of tomato crumbs, 
having a thick coating of crumbs on the top, 
and sticking tiny “dabs” of butter all over it. 

Bake, covered, half an hour. Take off the tin 
pan, or whatever you have used to keep in 
the steam, and brown nicely before sending to 
table. 

Beets. 

Wash well, taking care not to scratch the 
skin, as they will “ bleed ” while in cooking 
if this is cut or broken. 

Cook in boiling water an hour and a half 
if young, three, four or five hours as their 
age increases. 

Drain, scrape off the skins, slice quickly 
with a sharp knife; put into a vegetable dish, 



VEGETABLES. 


113 


and pour over them a half a cupful of vinegar, 
with two tablespoonfuls of butter, heated to 
boiling, and a little salt and pepper. 

Let them stand three minutes covered in a 
warm place before serving. 

G-reen Peas. 

Shell and leave in very cold water fifteen 
minutes. Cook in plenty of boiling, salted 
water. They should be done in half an hour. 

Shake gently in a hot colander to get rid 
of the water; turn into a heated deep dish, 
sprinkle with salt and pepper, and stir in fast 
and lightly with a fork , two tablespoonfuls of 
butter. 

Eat while hot 

String Beans* 

Do not cook these at all unless you are wil¬ 
ling to take the trouble of “ stringing ” them. 

With a small sharp knife cut off the stem 
and blossom-tips, then trim away the tough 


114 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


fibres from the sides carefully, and cut each 
bean into inch-lengths. 

Lay in cold water for half an hour. Cook 
one hour in salted boiling water, or until the 
beans are tender. 

Drain, butter and season as you would 
peas. 

String beans half-trimmed and cut into 
slovenly, unequal lengths are a vulgar-looking, 
unpopular dish. Prepared as I have directed, 
they are comely, palatable and wholesome. 

Squash. 

Pare, quarter, take out the seeds, and lay in 
cold water for half an hour. 

Boil in hot salted water thirty minutes for 
summer squash ; twice as long if the u Hub¬ 
bard ” or other varieties of winter squash are 
used. Take up piece by piece, and squeeze 
gently in a clean cloth, put back into the 
empty dried pot, and mash quickly and smoothly 
with a wooden spoon. 


VEGETABLES. 


115 


Stir in a heaping tablespoonful of butter for 
one large squash, or two small ones. 

Season with pepper and salt; heat and stir 
until smoking hot, then dish and serve. 

Cauliflower. 

Trim off leaves and cut the stalk short 
Lay in ice-cold water for half an hour. 

Tie it up in a bit of white netting. 

Put into a clean pot, cover deep with 
salted boiling water. 

Boil steadily, not hard, one hour and ten 
minutes. 

Before taking it from the fire, put a cupful 
of boiling water in a sauce-pan. 

Wet a heaping teaspoonful of corn-starch with 

cold water, and stir into the boiling until it 

♦ 

thickens. Then add two tablespoonfuls of but¬ 
ter, and when this is well stirred in, the strained 
juice of a lemon. 

Remove the net from the cauliflower, lay in 


116 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


a deep dish, and pour over it the drawn 
butter made by the addition of the lemon 
juice into sauce tartare. 

Egg Plant. 

Slice it crosswise, and about an inch thick; 
lay in strong salt water for one hour with a 
plate on the topmost slice to keep it under the 
brine. 

This will draw out the bitter taste. 

Put a cupful of pounded crackers into a flat 
dish and season with salt and pepper. 

Beat the yolks of two eggs in a shallow 
bowl. Wipe each slice of the egg plant dry, 
dip it in the egg, and roll it over and over in 
the crumbs. Have ready heated in a frying- 
pan, some sweet lard, and fry the vegetables in 
it to a fine brown. 

As each slice is done, lay it in & hot 
colander set in the open oven, that every 
drop of grease may be dried off. Serve on a 
hot platter. 


VEGETABLES. 


117 


Spinach. 

Wash very carefully, leaf by leaf, to get rid 
of sand and dust. Lay in very cold water 
until you are ready to cook it. Boil forty-five 
minutes; drain in a colander and chop fine in 
a wooden tray. Beat then three great table¬ 
spoonfuls of butter (this for a peck of 
spinach), a teaspoonful of white sugar, and half 
as much salt, with a little pepper. Whip all 
to a soft green mass and return to the empty 
pot. 

As you stir it over the fire add a cupful of 
rich milk — cream, if you have it—whip up 
hard and turn into a deep dish. 

Cut two hard-boiled eggs into thin slices, 
and lay in order on the spinach when dished. 


DESSEETS. 


| ENGLISH cooks would call this “A Chap- 
^ ter on Sweets.” “ Dessert ” with them 
is usually applied to fruits, nuts, etc. Webster 
defines the word thus : 

“A service of pastry, fruit or sweetmeats at 
the close of an entertainment; the last course 
at the table after the meat.” 

Without dwelling upon the fact that when 
fruit and coffee are served they follow pastry 
or puddings or sweetmeats, we take advantage 
of the elastic definition and assume that the 
dessert of the family dinner is a single prep¬ 
aration of “ sweets.” 

The too-universal pie will not appear on our 



DESSERTS. 


119 


menu. I am tempted to wish its manufacture 
might soon be numbered among the lost arts. 

Bayard Taylor once said that “If Rum had 
slain its thousands in America, Pork-fat (fried) 
and Pies had slain their ten thousands.” 

The average pastry of our beloved land 
would drive a Patrick Henry to self-exile if he 
were obliged to eat it every day. Nor could 
one of a dozen inexperienced cooks manipulate 
puff-paste as it should be handled in order to 
be flaky and tender. Dexterity of motion and 
strength of wrist are needed for this operation, 
such as belong only to the trained cook. 

The more wholesome and daintier jellies, 
custards and trifles, and plain puddings we 
have selected from the vast variety of sweet 
things known to our housewives, are adapted 
to the powers of novices in cookery, and not 
unworthy the attention of adepts. 

Boiled Custard, 

This is the base of so many nice “fancy 


120 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS.' 


dishes,” and is itself so excellent and popular 
that we may properly lay the knowledge how 
to prepare it properly as the foundation-stone 
of dessert making. 

One quart of fresh, sweet milk. 

Five eggs. 

One cup of sugar. 

One quarter teaspoonful of salt. 

One teaspoonful of essence of vanilla, lemon 
or bitter almond. 

r. 

Heat the milk to a boil in a farina kettle, 
or in a tin pail set in a pot of boiling water. 

In warm weather put a bit of soda no larger 
than a pea in the milk. While it is heating 
beat the eggs in a bowl. When the milk is 
scalding, udd the salt and sugar, and pour 
the hot liquid upon the eggs, stirring all the 
while. Beat up well and return to the inner 
vessel, keeping the water in the outer at a 
hard boil. Stir two or three times in the 
first five minutes ; afterward, almost constantly. 


DESSERTS. 


121 


In a quarter of an hour it ought to be done, 
but of this you can only judge by close obser¬ 
vation and practice. 

The color changes from deep to creamy 
yellow ; the consistency to a soft richness that 
makes it drop slowly and heavily from the 
spoon, and the mixture tastes like a custard 
instead of uncooked eggs, sugar and milk. 

When you have done it right once, you 
recognize these signs ever afterward. 

If underdone, the custard will be crude and 
watery; if overdone, it will clot or break. 

Take it when quite right—just at the turn 
— directly from the fire, and pour into a bowl 
to cool, before flavoring with the essence. 

With a good boiled custard as the beginning 
we can make scores of delightful desserts. 
First among these we may place 

Cup Custard. 

Fill small glasses nearly to the top with 
cold custard. 


122 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Whip the whites of three eggs stiff. 

Beat in three teaspoonfuls of bright-colored 
jelly-currant, if you have it. 

Heap a tablespoon of this meringue on the 
surface of each glassful. 

Set in a cold place until it goes to table. 

Floating Island. 

Fill a glass bowl almost to the top with 
cold boiled custard and cover with a meringue 
made as in last receipt. Do not whip in the 

jelly so thoroughly as to color the frothed 

whites. 

It is a prettier dish when the bright red 
specks just dot the snowy mass. 

Frosted Custard. 

Make a nice custard; let it get perfectly 

cold, and pile on it, instead of the whipped egg, 

a large cupful of grated cocoanut, sprinkling 
it on carefully, not to disturb the custard. 

Eat with sponge cake. 


DESSERTS. 


123 


Blanc-mange. 

Like custard, this is the base—the central 
idea, or fact — of numberless elegant com¬ 
pounds, and is delightful in its simplest form. 

One package of Cooper’s gelatine. 

Three pints of fresh, sweet milk. 

One even cupful of white sugar. 

One half teaspoonful of salt. 

One teaspoonful of vanilla or other essence. 

Soda as large as a pea, put into the milk. 

Soak the gelatine three hours in a cupful of 
cold water. Then heat the milk (salted) in a 
farina kettle. 

■ When it is scalding, stir in without taking 
the vessel from the fire, the sugar and soaked 
gelatine. Stir three minutes after it is boiling 
hot, and strain through a coarse cloth into a 
bowl. Let it get almost cold before adding 
the flavoring. Wet a clean mould with cold 
water; pour in the blanc-mange and set on 
ice, or in a cold place until firm. 




124 COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 

Dip a cloth in hot water, wring until it 

£ 

will not drip, wrap about the mould, turn 
bottom upward on a flat dish, and shake gen¬ 
tly to dislodge the contents. 

Eat with powdered sugar and cream. 

Chocolate Custard. 

Five minutes before taking the custard from 
the fire, add to it three heaping tablespoonfuls 
of grated Baker’s chocolate rubbed to a paste 
with a little cold milk. Stir until the mixture 
is of a rich coffee color. 

Turn out, and when cold, flavor with va¬ 
nilla and put into glasses. 

Whip the whites of three eggs to a smooth 
meringue, beat in three tablespoonfuls of pow¬ 
dered sugar, and heap upon the brown mix¬ 
ture. 

Chocolate Blanc-mange. 

(Our French scholars will say that this 
should be termed “ Brim-mange .”) 

Mix with the soaked gelatine four heaping 






DESSERTS. 


125 


tablespoonfuls of Baker’s chocolate, grated, and stir 
into the scalding milk, and treat as above di¬ 
rected. In straining, squeeze the bag hard to 
extract all the coloring matter. Flavor with 
vanilla. 

Coffee Blanc-mange. 

Soak the gelatine in a cupful of strong, 
clear black coffee, instead of the cold water, and 
proceed as with plain blanc-mange, using no 
other flavoring than the coffee. 

Tea Blanc-mange 

Is made in the same way by substituting for 
the water very strong, mixed tea. Eat with 
powdered sugar and cream. 

Pineapple Trifle. 

One package of gelatine. 

Two cups of white sugar. 

One small pineapple, peeled and cut into 
bits. 

One-half teaspoonful of nutmeg. 


126 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Juice and grated peel of a lemon. 

Three cups of boiling water. 

Whites of four eggs. 

Soak the gelatine four hours in a cup of 
cold water. 

Put into a bowl with the sugar, nutmeg, 
lemon-juice, and rind and minced 
pineapple. 

Rub the fruit hard into the mixture with a 
wooden spoon, and let all stand together, 
covered, two hours. 

Then pour upon it the boiling water and 
stir until the gelatine is dissolved. 

Line a colander with a double thickness of 
clean flannel, and strain the mixture through 
it, squeezing and wringing the cloth hard, to 
get the full flavor of the fruit. Set on ice 
until cold, but not until it is hard. 

It should be just u jellied” around the 
edges, when you begin to whip the whites 
of the eggs in a bowl set in ice water. When 



DESSERTS. 


127 


they are quite stiff, beat in a spoonful at a 
time the gelatine. Whip a minute after ad¬ 
ding each supply to mix it in perfectly. 

Half an hour’s work with the “ Dover ” will 
give* you a white spongy mass, pleasing alike 
to eye and taste. 

Wet a mould with cold water, put in the 
sponge and set on ice until you are ready 
to turn it out. 

This is a delicious dessert. For pineapple 
substitute strawberries, raspberries, or peaches. 

A Simple Susan. 

Two cups of fine, dry bread crumbs. 

Three cups of chopped apple. 

One cup of sugar. 

One teaspoonful of mace, and half as 
much allspice. 

Two teaspoonfuls of butter. 

One tablespoonful of salt. 


Butter a pudding-dish and cover the bottom 


128 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


with crumbs. Lay on these a thick layer of 
minced apple, sprinkled lightly with salt and 
spices — more heavily with sugar. Stick bits 
of butter over all. Then more crumbs, going 
on in this order until all the ingredients are 
used up. The top layer should be crumbs. 

Cover closely, and bake half an hour. Re¬ 
move the cover and set on the upper grating 
of the oven until nicely browned. Send to 
table in the dish in which it was baked. 

Sauce for the Above. 

Two cupfuls of powdered sugar. 

Two tablespoonfuls of butter. 

Half teaspoonful of mace or nutmeg. 

Juice (strained) of a lemon. 

Two tablespoonfuls of boiling water. 

Melt the butter with the hot water and 
beat in, with egg whisk or “Dover,”' the 

sugar, a little at a time, until the sauce is 

like a cream. Add lemon juice and nutmeg, 


DESSERTS. 


129 


mould into a mound on a glass dish, or a 
deep plate, and set in a cold place until it is 
firm. This is a good “hard sauce’’ for any 
hot pudding. 

Gottage Pudding. 

Two eggs. 

One cup of milk. 

One cup of sugar. 

One tablespoonful of butter. 

Three cups of prepared flour. 

If you have not the prepared, use family 
flour with two tablespoonfuls of baking 
powder, sifted twice with it. 

One tablespoonful of salt. 

Put the sugar in a bowl, warm the butter 
slightly, but do not melt it, and rub it with a 
wooden spoon into the sugar until they are 
thoroughly mixed together. Beat the eggs 
light in another bowl, stir in the sugar and 
butter, then the milk, the salt, and lastly the 
flour. 



130 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Butter a tin cake mould well, pour in 
the batter and bake about forty minutes in a 
steady oven. 

Should it rise very fast, cover the top with 
white paper as soon as a crust is formed, to 
prevent scorching. 

When you think it is done stick a clean, 
dry straw into the thickest part. If it comes 
up smooth and not sticky the loaf is ready 
to be taken up. 

Loosen the edges from the mould with a 
knife, turn out on a plate, and send hot to 
table. Cut with a keen blade into slices, and 
eat with pudding sauce. 

An easy receipt and one that seldom fails 
to give general satisfaction. 


*3 


CAKE-MAKING. 

TV TEVER undertake cake unless you are 
^ ' willing to give to the business the 
amount of time and labor needed to make it 
well. Materials tossed together “ anyhow ” 
may, once in a great while, come out right, 
but the manufacturer has no right to expect 
this, or to be mortified when the product is 
a failure. 

Before breaking an egg, or putting butter 
and sugar together, collect all your ingredients. 
Sift the flour and arrange close to your hand, 
the bowls, egg-beater, cake-moulds, ready but¬ 
tered, etc. 

Begin by putting the measured sugar into a 

131 


132 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


bowl, and working the butter into it with a 
wooden spoon. Warm the butter slightly in 
cold weather. Rub and stir uutil the mixture is 
as smooth and light as cream. Indeed, this 
process is called “ creaming.” 

Now, beat the yolks of your eggs light and 
thick in another bowl; wash the egg-beater 

well, wipe dry and let it get cold before 

• . 

whipping the whites to a standing heap in a 
third vessel. Keep the eggs cool before and 
while you beat them. Add the yolks to the 
creamed butter and sugar, beating hard one 
minute; put in the milk when milk is used, 
the spices and flavoring; whip in the whites, 
and lastly, the sifted and prepared flour. 

Beat front the bottom of the mixing-bowl 
with a wooden spoon, bringing it up full and 
high with each stroke, and as soon as the in¬ 
gredients are fairly and smoothly mixed, stop 
beating, or your cake will be tough. 

Let your first attempt be with cup-cake 
baked in small tins. Learn to manage your 


CAKE-MAKING. 


133 


oven well before risking pound or fruit-cake. 

Should the dough or batter rise very fast 
lay white paper over the top, that this may 
not harden into a crust before the middle is 
done. To ascertain whether the cake is ready 
to leave* the oven, thrust a clean straw into 
the thickest part. If it comes out clean, take 
out the tins and set them gently on a table 
or shelf to cool before turning them upside 
down on a clean, dry cloth or dish. 

A Good Cup-cake. 

One cup of butter. 

Two cups of sugar — powdered. 

Four eggs. 

One cup of sweet milk. 

One teaspoonful of vanilla. 

One half-teaspoonful of mace. 

Three cups of prepared flour, or the same 
quantity of family-flour with one even 
teaspoonful of soda and two of cream- 
tartar, sifted twice with it. 


134 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Two teaspoonfuls of baking powder will 
serve the same end. Mix as directed in 
“ Practical Preliminaries,” and bake in small 
tins. 

Jelly-cake 

Is made by mixing the above cup-cake, leav¬ 
ing out the flavoring, and baking it in “jelly- 
cake tins,” turning these out when almost 
cold by running a knife around the edges, 
and spreading all but that intended for the 
top with a thick coating of fruit-jelly. Sift 
white sugar over the upper one or frost it. 

Cream-cake. 

Mix a cup-cake without spice or other 
flavoring, bake in jelly-cake tins, and when 
cold spread between the layers this filling: 

One egg. 

One cup of milk. 

One half cup of sugar. 

Two rounded teaspoonfuls of corn-starch. 

One teaspoonful of vanilla or other essence. 






CAKE-MAKING. 


135 


Scald the milk in a farina-kettle; wet the 
cornstarch with a little cold milk and stir into 
that over the fire until it thickens. Have the 
egg ready whipped light into a bowl; beat it 
in the sugar; pour the thick hot milk upon 
this, gradually, stirring fast, return to the 
kettle and boil (still stirring,) to a thick cus¬ 
tard. Let it cool before seasoning. 

Frost the top-cake, or sift powdered sugar 
over it. 

Oocoanut-cake. 

Mix and bake as for jelly-cake, flavoring 
with rose-water. 

Whip the whites of three eggs to a stiff 
froth. 

Add one cup of powdered sugar, and two 
thirds of a grated cocoanut. 

When the cakes are cold, spread between 
the layers. 

To the remaining third of the cocoanut add 
four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, and cover 
the top of the cake with it. 


136 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Apple-cake. 

Mix and bake as for jelly-cake, flavoring the 
dough with essence of bitter almond. 

Beat one egg light in a bowl, and into it a 
cup of sugar. Add to this the strained juice 
and grated rind of a lemon. 

Peel and grate three fine pippins or other ripe, 
tart apples directly into this mixture, stirring 
each well in before adding another. When all 
are in, put into a farina-kettle and stir over 
the fire until the apple-custard is boiling hot 
and quite thick. Cool and spread between the 
cakes. A nice and simple cake. Eat the day 
it is baked. 

Chocolate-cake. 

Mix and bake as for jelly-cake, flavoring 
with vanilla. For filling, whip the whites of 
three eggs stiff; stir in one cup and a half 

i 

of sugar and four tablespoonfuls of Baker’s 
Vanilla Chocolate, grated. Beat hard for two 
minutes and spread between the layers and on 
the top of the cake. 


. CAKE-MAKING. 


137 


White Oup-cake. 

One cup of butter. 

Two cups of powdered sugar. 

Three cups of prepared flour. 

One cup of sweet milk. 

Whites of five eggs. 

One teaspoonful of essence of bitter 
almond. 

Cream butter and sugar; add milk and beat 
hard before putting in the whites of the eggs. 
Stir in flavoring and, lightly and quickly, the 
prepared flour. Bake in small tins. 

Frosting for Cake. 

Whites of three eggs. 

Three cups of powdered sugar. 

Strained juice of a lemon. 

Put the whites into a cold bowl and add the 
sugar at once, stirring it in thoroughly. Then 
whip with your egg-beater until the mixture is 
stiff and white, adding lemon-juice as you go 


138 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


on. Spread thickly over the cake, and set in 
the sun, or in a warm room to dry. 

White Lemon Cake. 

Make “ white cup-cake,” bake in jelly cake- 
tins and let it get cold. Prepare a frosting as 
above directed, but use the juice of two 
lemons and the grated peel of one. Spread 
this mixture between the cakes and on the 
top. 

Sponge Cake. 

Do not attempt this until you have had 
some practice in the management of ovens, 
and let your first trial be with what are some¬ 
times termed “snow-balls,”—that is, small 
sponge cakes, frosted. Put six eggs into a 
scale and ascertain their weight exactly . 
Allow for the sponge cake the weight of the 
eggs in sugar, and half their weight in flour. 
Grate the yellow peel from a lemon and 
squeeze the juice upon it. Let it stand ten 




CAKE-MAKING. 


139 


minutes, and strain through coarse muslin, 
pressing out every drop. 

Beat the yolks of the eggs very light and 
then the sugar into them; the lemon-juice; 
the whites, which should have been whipped to 
a standing froth;—finally, stir in the sifted 
flour swiftly and lightly. Bake in a steady 
oven from twenty-five to thirty minutes, glanc¬ 
ing at them now and then, to make sure 
they are not scorching, and covering with 
white paper as they harden on top. 

This is an easy, and if implicitly obeyed, a 
sure receipt. 

Nice Gingerbread. 

Three eggs. 

One cup of sugar. 

One cup each of molasses, “loppered” or 
buttermilk, and of butter. 

One tablespoonful of ground ginger, a 
teaspoonful of cinnamon, and half as 
much alspice. 


140 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Four and a half full cups of sifted 
flour. 

One teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a 
tablespoonful of boiling water. 

Put butter, molasses, sugar and spice in 
a bowl, set in a pan of hot water and 
stir with a wooden spoon until they are like 
brown cream. Take from the water and add 
the milk. Beat yolks and whites together until 
light in another bowl, and turn the brown 
mixture gradually in upon them, keeping the 
egg-beater going briskly. 

When well-mixed, add the soda, at last, the 
flour. Beat hard three minutes, and bake 
in well-buttered pans. 

Sugar Cookies. 

Two cups of sugar. 

One cup of butter. 

Three eggs, whites and yolks beaten 
together. 


CAKE-MAKING. 


141 


About three cups of flour sifted with one 
teaspoonful of baking powder. 

One teaspoonful of nutmeg, and half this 
quantity of cloves. 

Cream butter and sugar, beat in the 
whipped eggs and spice; add a handful at a 
time the flour, working it in until the dough 
is stiff enough to roll out. Flour your hands 
well and sprinkle flour over a pastry-board. 
Make a ball of the dough, and lay it on the 
board. Rub your rolling-pin also with flour 
and roll out the dough into a sheet about a 
quarter of an inch thick. 

Cut into round cakes; sift granulated sugar 
over each and bake quickly. 

Ginger Snaps. 

Two cups of molasses. 

One cup of sugar. 

One cup of butter. 

Five cups of flour. 


142 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


One heaping teaspoonful of ground ginger, 
and the same quantity of alspice. 

Stir molasses, sugar and butter together in 
a bowl set in hot water, until very light. 
Mix in spices and flour, and roll out as 
directed in last receipt, but in a thinner 
sheet. Cut into small cakes and bake quickly. 

All cakes in the composition of which 
molasses is used, are more apt to burn than 
others. Watch your ginger snaps well, but 
opening the oven as little as may be. 

These spicy and toothsome cakes are better 
the second day than the first, and keep well 
for a week or more. 


H 


JELLIES, CREAMS AND OTHER FANCY DISHES FOR 
TEA AND LUNCHEON OR SUPPER-PARTIES. 

HE pleasing custom in many families is 



to make the daughters responsible for 
“fancy cookery.” Mamma turns naturally, when 
company is expected, to her young allies for 
the manufacture of cake, jellies, blanc-mange, 
etc., and for the arrangement of fruit and 
flowers, and seldom cavils at the manner in 
which they do the work. 

The difference in the appointment of feasts 
in houses where there are girls growing up 
and grown, and in those where there are 
none, is so marked that I need not call atten¬ 
tion to it. 


143 


144 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Lemon or Orange Jelly. 

One package of gelatine soaked in two 
cups of cold water. 

Two and a half cups of sugar. 

Juice of four lemons and grated peel of 
two (same of oranges). 

Three cups of boiling water. 

A quarter-teaspoonful powdered cinnamon. 

Soak the gelatine two hours; add lemon 
juice, grated peel, sugar and spice, and leave 
for one hour. Pour on the boiling water, stir 
until dissolved, and strain through double flan¬ 
nel. Do not shake or squeeze, but let the 
jelly filter clearly through it into a bowl or 
pitcher set beneath. Wet moulds in cold water 
and set aside to cool and harden. 

Kibbon Jelly. 

Take one third currant jelly, one third lemon 
jelly, and as much plain blanc-mange. (See 
Desserts .) 



JELLIES, CREAMS, ETC. 


145 


When all are cold and begin to form, wet 
a mould, pour in about a fourth of the red 
jelly and set on the ice to harden; keep the 
rest in a warm room, or near the fire. So 
soon as the jelly is firm in the bottom of the 
mould, add carefully some of the white blanc- 
mange, and return the mould to the ice. 
When this will bear the weight of more jelly, 
add a little of the lemon, and when this 
forms, another line of white. 

Proceed in this order, dividing the red from 
the yellow by white, until the jellies are used 
up. Leave the mould on ice until you are 
ready to turn the jelly out. 

A pretty dish, and easily managed if one 
will have patience to wait after putting in each 
layer until it is firm enough not to be dis¬ 
turbed or muddied by the next supply. 

Buttercup Jelly. 

One half package of gelatine soaked in half 
a cup of cold water for two hours. 


146 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Three eggs. 

One pint of milk. 

One heaping cup of sugar. 

One teaspoonful of vanilla. 

Bit of soda the size of a pea stirred into 
the milk. 

Heat the milk to scalding in a farina-kettle 
and stir in the soaked gelatine until the latter 
is dissolved, and strain through a coarse cloth. 
Beat the yolks of the eggs light, add the sugar 
and pour the boiling mixture gradually upon 
it, stirring all the time. 

Return to the farina-kettle and stir three 
minutes, or until it begins to thicken. Let 
it cool before you flavor it. Whip the white 
of one egg stiff, and when the yellow jelly 
coagulates around the edges, set the bowl 
containing the frothed white in cracked ice or 
in ice-water and beat the jelly into it, spoon¬ 
ful by spoonful, with the egg-whip, until it is 
all in and your sponge thick and smooth. 


JELLIES, CREAMS, ETC. 


147 


Wet a mould and set it on the ice to form. 
Lay about the base* when you dish it. 

Whipped Cream. 

I have been assured by those who have 
made the experiment, that excellent whipped 
cream can be produced, and very quickly, by 
the use of our incomparable Dover Egg-beater. 
I have never tried this, but my pupils may, 
if they have not a syllabub-churn. 

Put a pint of rich, sweet cream in a pail or 
other wide-mouthed vessel with straight sides, 
and set in ice while you whip or churn it. 

As the frothing cream rises to the top, re¬ 
move it carefully with a spoon and lay it in 
a perfectly clean and cold colander, or on a 
hair sieve, set over a bowl. If any cream 
drips from it return to the vessel in which it 
is whipped to be beaten over again. When 
no more froth rises, whip a tablespoonful of 
powdered sugar into the white syllabub in the 
colander, and it is ready for use. 


148 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


Swan’s Down Cream. 

One pint of whipped cream. 

Whites of three eggs beaten to a stiff 
froth. 

One cup of powdered sugar. 

One teaspoonful essence bitter almond. 

Just before you are ready to send the dish 
to table, beat whipped cream, frothed whites, 
sugar and flavoring together in a bowl set deep 
in cracked ice. Heap in a glass dish and 
leave in the ice until it is to be eaten. 

Send sponge cake around with it. 

Jellied Oranges. 

Cut a small round piece from the blossom 
end of each of six or eight oranges, and scoop 
out the pulp very carefully, so as not to widen 
the hole, or tear the inside of the fruit. Use 
your fingers and a small teaspoon for this 
purpose until the oranges are empty and 

4 

clean. 


JELLIES, CREAMS, ETC. 


149 


Lay them then in very cold water while you 
prepare with the pulp and juice you have 
taken out, and the grated peel of another 
orange, half the quantity of orange-jelly called 
for by the receipt for lemon jelly. When it 
is quite cold, fill the orange-skins with it, and 
set in a cold place to harden. 

In serving them, cut the oranges cross-wise 
with a sharp knife and arrange in a glass dish, 
the open sides upward. A few orange, lemon, 
or japonica leaves to line the edges of the 
dish, will give a pretty effect. 

Ambrosia. 

Peel fine, sweet oranges, and cut into small 
pieces, extracting the seeds. Put a layer in a 
glass dish and sprinkle well with sugar. In 
this scatter a thick coating of grated cocoa- 
nut, strewing this also with powdered sugar. 
Over the cocoanut lay thin slices of bananas, 
peeled and cut crosswise. Fill the dish in this 
order, the top being covered with banana. 


150 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


A nice dessert for Sundays and warm 
afternoons when one dreads the heat of the 
stove. 

How to make Coffee and Tea. 

If you wish to have really strong coffee, 
allow a cup of freshly-ground coffee to a quart 
of boiling water. Put the coffee in a bowl 
and wet with half a cup of cold water. Stir 
in the white and shell of a raw egg, and 
turn into a clean, newly-scalded coffee-boiler. 
Shut down the top and shake hard up and 
down half a dozen times before pouring in 
the boiling water. Set where it will boil hard, 
but not run over, for twenty minutes, draw to 
the side of the range and check the boil sud¬ 
denly by pouring in a third of a cup of cold 
water. Let it stand three minutes to settle, 
and pour off gently into the pot which is to 
be set on the table. 

Scald the milk to be drunk with coffee, 
unless you can serve really rich cream with it. 


JELLIES, CREAMS, ETC. 


151 


Tea. 

First rule. The water should boil. 

Second rule. The water in which the tea 
is steeped, must be boiling. 

Third rule. The water used for filling the 
pot must be boiling. 

I speak within bounds when I say that I 

* 

could tell on the fingers of my two hands the 
tables at which I have drunk really good, hot, 
fresh tea. Sometimes it is made with boiling 
water, then allowed to simmer on the range 
or hob until the decoction is rank, reedy and 
bitter. Sometimes too little tea is put in, and 
the beverage, while hot enough, is but faintly 
colored and flavored. 

Oftenest of all, the tea is made with un¬ 
boiled water, or with water that did boil 
once, but is now flat and many degrees below 
the point of ebullition. 

Scald the china, or silver, or tin teapot from 
which the beverage is to flow directly into 
the cups; put in an even teaspoonful of tea 


152 


COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS. 


for each person who is to partake of it, pour 
in a half-cup of boiling water and cover the 
pot with a cozy or napkin for five minutes. 
Then, fill up with boiling water from the kettle 
and take to the table. Fill the cups within 
three minutes or so and you have the fresh 
aroma of the delicious herb. 



INDEX 


BREADS. 


Bread Sponge 






16 

Breakfast Biscuits 






2 3 

Crumpets .... 






30 

English Muffins . 






28 

First Loaf, The . 






11 

Graham Bread 






19 

Graham Rolls 






2 3 

Graham Cakes 






40 

Griddle Cakes 






37 

Hominy Cakes 






39 

Quick Biscuits 






35 

Quick Muffins 






3 1 

Sally Lunn 






33 

Sour Milk Cakes . 






38 

Tea Rolls .... 






21 


CAKE. 


Apple Cake. x 36 

Cup-cake. I 33 

Cream-cake.*34 

Cocoanut-cake. r 35 

Chocolate-cake.*3^ 



















154 


INDEX. 


Gingerbread. *39 

Ginger Snaps.141 

Jelly-cake. 134 

Sponge Cake.; 138 

Sugar Cookies . ........ 140 

White Cup-cake ..137 

White Lemon Cake ..138 

Frosting for Cake ........ 137 


DESSERTS. 


Blanc-mange.123 

Blanc-mange, Chocolate.124 

Blanc-mange, Coffee . . . . . • . . 125 

Blanc-mange, Tea.125 

Cup Custard.121 

Custard, boiled.119 

Chocolate Custard.124 

Custard, frosted.122 

Cottage Pudding.129 

Floating Island.122 

Pineapple Trifle.125 

Simple Susan.127 


EGGS. 

Boiled Eggs.42 

Bacon and Eggs.48 

Baked Eggs ......... 49 

Custard Eggs.44 

Dropped Eggs with white Sauce ..... 51 
























INDEX. 


155 


Eggs on Toast.45 

Eggs on Savory Toast.49 

Omelette.25 

Poached, or Dropped Eggs.44 

Scrambled or Stirred Eggs.46 

Scalloped Eggs.50 


JELLIES, CREAMS AND OTHER FANCY DISHES. 


Ambrosia . 149 

Jelly, Buttercup . 145 

Jelly, Lemon . 144 

Jelly, Ribbon . 148 

Jellied Oranges . 144 

Cream, Whipped . 147 

Cream, Swan’s Down . 148 


MEATS. 

Beefsteak. 55 

Beef Croquettes.73 

Beef, Roast.95 

Boiled Corned Beef.105 

Breakfast Stew.66 

Chicken Croquettes.79 

Chicken, Turkey or Duck, Roast.101 

Chicken, Fricasseed.102 

Chicken Smothered.103 

Fish Balls . 64 

Ham, Broiled.59 

Ham Deviled, or Barbecued ...... 78 





























156 


INDEX. 


Hash. 

Hash Cakes.. 

Lamb, Roast. . - . . 

Liver, Larded. 

Mutton or Lamb Chops . . . . . 

Mutton Boiled . 

Mutton, Deviled . 

Minced Mutton on Toast . 

Mutton, Roast . . . . 

Mutton Stew. 

Sausage Cakes . 

Smothered Sausage . 

Veal Cutlets . 

Veal Roast ...... 

Gravy, Brown . 

Mint Sauce . 

SOUPS. 

Soup Stock . 

Bean Soup . 

Chicken Soup . 

Clear Soup with Sago or Tapioca .... 

Julienne Soup . 

Soup Maigre (without meat) . 

Tomato Soup . . 

White Chicken Soup . 

9 

TEA AND COFFEE, HOW TO MAKE. 

Coffee.. . 

Tea. 


» 


72 


100 

60 
58 

105 

77 

75 

99 
74 

63 

63 

61 
100 

98 

100 


83 


9 i 


90 

85 

87 


92 


90 

88 


150 

151 





















INDEX. 


157 


VEGETABLES. 


Beets.112 

Cauliflower.115 

Egg Plant... 

Green Peas .. 

Onions, boiled., # II0 

Potatoes, boiled.108 

Potatoes, mashed.109 

Squash.114 

String Beans. .. ' 113 

Spinach.117 

Tomatoes, Stewed. hi 

Tomatoes, Scalloped.. 





















BAKING 

Prof. Horsford, 

[Namely, Prof. Horsford’s Self-Raising Bread Preparation, put up 
in paper packages, Rumford Yeast Powder, in bottles, 
and Prof. Horsford’s Pliosphatic Baking 
Powder, in bottles with wide mouths to admit a spoon,] 

are made of Horsford’s Acid Phosphate in powdered form, and 
are 

HEALTHFUL AND NUTRITIOUS, 

because they restore to the flour the nourishing phosphates lost 
with the bran in the process of bolting. 

These Baking Preparations have received the endorsement 
of, and are 

UNIVERSALLY USED and RECOMMENDED 
by Prominent Physicians and Chemists, 

and are for sale by all dealers. 

THEY INCREASE THE NUTRITIVE QUALITIES OF FLOUR. 

Baron Liebig, the world-renowned German chemist, said : 
“ I consider this invention as one of the most useful gifts which 
science has made to mankind! It is certain that the 
nutritive value of flour is increased ten per cent, 
by your pliosphatic Baking- Preparations, and the 
result is precisely the same as if the fertility of our wheat fields 
had been increased by that amount. What a wonderful result 
is this ! ” 

The Horsford Almanac and Cook Book sent free. 

RUMFORD CHEMICAL WORKS, - Providence, R. I. 



THE 

PREPARATIONS 

-OF- 






For 

Gravies. Chops, 
Game. 

Cold Meats s etc, 


HIRE 


SOLD BY ALL GROCERS. 

It is invaluable to all good cooks for soups, 
hashes, and blends admirably with all gravies. Is 
used at all first-class hotels. Makes your food more 
nutritious, enriches hot joints, stews, chops, steaks, 
fish, etc., and is the most delicious relish in the 
world. Sold everywhere. Beware of colorable im¬ 
itations called by every conceivable name. 

Parker House, Boston, Mass. 

We have in constant use the Halford Leicestershire Table 
Sauce, and it has given such satisfaction to the guests of our 
house that our orders for it have been larger than for all other 
kinds of sauce combined. H. D. Parker & Co. 










CANDY 


CANDY 


Send one, two, three or 
five dollars for a retail box, 
by express, of the best Can¬ 
dies in the world, put up in 
handsome boxes. All strictly 
pure. Suitable for presents. 
Try it once. Also, articles 
for table use. Send for Cata¬ 
logue. (Mention this book in 
writing.) 


C. F. GUNTHER, Confectioner, 


78 Madison Street, Chicago. 









A HOUSEHOLD NECESSITY. 



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A HOUSEHOLD WORD. 

And no Family is Complete without it. 



THE MONROE RANGE. 

More in use in N. Y. State than all the other first-class Ranges put together. 
One continuous fire from September to April, and will bake as well 
three months after starting the fire as in two hours. 

Don’t believe this until you have asked your neighbor who is using one. 

M’f’d by CO-OPERATIVE FOUNDRY CO., 

Rochester, N. Y. 

If so be there is no agent in your town, address the factory for wholesale 
price. 


NO COMPETITION. 















































CHILTON MANUFACTURING CO. 

MANUFACTURERS AND IMPORTERS OF 

PAINTS AND COLffRS, 

DRY, IN OIL AND PULP. 


Umbers, Siennas, Vandyke Brown, Indian and Venetian Reds, Chrome 
Greens and Yellows, Chinese and Prussian Blues. 


WHITE LEAD AND ZINC WHITE, 

AND CELEBRATED CHILTON PAINTS MIXED READY FOR USE. 

DEALERS IN 

LINSEED OIL TURPENTINE, JAPANS, VARNISHES, &G. 


Office, 4S Maiden Lane & 35 Liberty St., - - - IVEW YORK. 

Factory, College Point, L. I. 


All of the paints manufactured by this company are made of pure linseed 
oil. The mixed paints are put up in pints, quarts, half gallons, and gallon 
packages, and any desired size package up to 50 gallons. 

If any of your rooms or floors need touching up, or if you contemplate re¬ 
painting the house, send to the office of the company in New York, and they 
will mail you sample cards showing different shades they have in stock; 
should none of these suit you they can be changed in any way that may 
be desired. 

The pint and quart cans are peculiarly adapted for the use of the house¬ 
wife, and will greatly assist in keeping the home in an orderly condition. 






THE MANUFACTURERS OF 






' ^WARDED 
JN1TED ST/ 
CENTENNIAL 


Embroidery Silk, Filoselle, &c., 

ARE UNEOUALED. 

Florence Silk Underwear, 
Floren ce Si lk Hosiery, 


TRADE 


MARK. 


SVASA.lTTEEIS OS'. 


‘FLORENCE ,’ 5 The Peerless Knitting Silk. 


;MER ; PPEMIO 


ssposiciopt 

TER NATIONAL 
DE CHILE 
EN li/3 


Nonotuck Silk Co. 


:mhx.x.s. 


FLORENCE AND LEEDS, MASS. 

SALESROOM FOR NSW ENGLAND; 

« 

IS Sunuaei Street, Boston. 
GEO D. ATKINS, Agent. 


CoRTICELLI SpOOlSiLK, 


UJJ. 

HA?E A RECORD OK 

46 Years’ Successful Business, 
Antedating and Excelling all Competitors. 


THE I CORTICELLI MILLS ARB THB 

MOST EXTENSIVE 

OF THEIR KIND IN THE "WORLD. 


REMEMBER THE FAMOUS BRANDS: 
















































{ 



It is a solid, handsome cake of scouring soap, 
which has no equal for all cleaning purposes except 
the laundry. To use it is to value it. 

What will Sapolio do ? Why, it will clean paint, 
make oil-cloths bright, and give the floors, tables 
and shelves a new appearance. 

It will take the grease off the dishes and off the 
pots and pans. 

You can scour the knives and forks with it, and 
make the tin things shine brightly. 

The wash-basin, the bath-tub, even the greasy 
kitchen sink, will be as clean as a new pin if you 

use SAPOLIO. 

One cake will prove all we say. Be a clever 
housekeeper and try it. 


BEWARE OF IMITATIONS. 

THERE IS BUT ONE 

SAPOLIO. 

ENOCH MORGAN S SONS GO., 


NEW YORK. 






LC ACQUISI 


IONS 


0 043 250 356 2 

Breakfast Cocoa 


Warranted absolutely pure Cocoa, 
from which the excess of Oil has been re¬ 
moved. It has three times the strength of 
Cocoa mixed with Starch, Arrowroot 
Sugar, and is therefore far more ec~-~- 




cal, costing ,; less than one cent 2 cup . It 
delicious, nourishing strengthening, easily 
digested, and admirably adapted for inva¬ 
lids as well as for persons in health. 

Sold bv Grocers evei 
—■“— 


& CO., - - Dorchester, Mass. 



SOLD MKDAL, PAEIS, 1878. 



Like all our chocolates, is prepared with 
the greatest cave, and consists of a superior 
quality of cocoa and sugar, flavored with 
pure vanilla bean. Served as a drink, or 
eaten dry as confectionery, it is a delicious 
article, and is highly recommended by 
to trists. 


v * s •> 


8ol<i by Grocers fverywhe 


W. BAKER & 00., • 


' * . . 























